Amnesiac
by LottieBeast
Summary: (SI!Yuuki) (gradually gets more and more AU) She wakes up first in a hospital room without memory. Next time she wakes, she's in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a snowstorm.
1. First Evening

**I don't own Vampire Knight (if I did it'd be way different trust me). All I own is my personal writing, and the way Yuuki interacts with the world in this, as it's my unique spin on this.**

**I noticed a lack of recent SI-Yuuki fics here on and other fanfiction sites. Which seems like a shame because the universe itself is really cool? So I figured I would put what I want to read into the world. This story has been gesticulating in my head and notebooks for awhile.****That said, please favorite and follow, read and review! It'd be nice to get encouragement. (If anyone can explain how to get lines to me that'd be really cool!)**

**Warnings: I can get kind of "bashy" with certain characters (Kaname, Aidou) though that won't come up until the "Night" chapters, and there's violence and blood. No sex or anything though, and minimal swearing.**

**EDIT: (May 24th, 2019) I have access to a legitimate computer, even if only temporarily. So I'm going to be adding lines to the chapters i've already written!**

* * *

_"The world seems full of good men, even if there are monsters in it."_

_\- Bram Stoker, Dracula_

She is in a hospital room- it's empty, and cold. Abnormally cold, really. The walls are powdery blue, the ceiling grayish. She can't really feel anything but the cold, though she can see several machines to her left- an IV drip, a heart monitor, something expanding and contracting with mechanical hisses and inhales. _W-what?_ There is no pain to indicate why she is currently in this hospital room. _Why am I..?_

Reaching a hand up, she feels tentatively at the face mask covering her lower face, and, reflexively, she tries to swallow and immediately begins to gag. She digs her fingers under the edges of the mask, dragging it up and then away, the fragile plastic band holding it to her head snapping. She reflexively gags further as the tube in her throat is dragged upwards, the feeling of it painful and burning. She leans upwards, sitting up, and breathes as deeply as she is able for a while before it evens out. The pain is uncomfortable, but no longer distracting or terrible.

There is a table to her right, holding a box of tissues and a TV remote. Also to the right, a few feet away, there is a large window. It is either too bright to see outside properly, or there is a blizzard outside. And, really, it is cold enough in the room for that to be at least mildly possible. She turns, throwing her legs over the side of the bed, feeling drawn to the window.

The cold increases drastically when her skin is exposed to the air, as expected, and she shivers slightly, goosebumps spreading over the skin not covered by the thin pale blue hospital gown she is wearing. She doesn't allow the cold to deter her from her goal to reach the window. She checks the length of the hospital equipment she is connected to, then scoots off of the bed, planting her feet carefully flat against the hospital tiles.

_Where… It's obviously a hospital room. Why am I here? _

She looks herself over- there is some discoloration on all of her visible skin, she thinks, tinting her vaguely yellowish. She turns her attention back upwards, extending the arm not connected to her IV, carefully making sure she is not tangled up. She is still much too far from the window for her to reach it from where she stands. She takes an unsteady, shuffling step forward, aware of how unsteady and weak her legs are, but something just beneath her ability to catch urging her to the window. She knows there is something, knows it is just beneath her uppermost layer of consciousness, but that does not allow her to know it.

It takes three steps before her connected arm is crooked and tilted to face behind her, the equipment pulled taut- but she doesn't want to stop. She is so close to her goal, she can feel waves of cold radiating from the glass of the window. She looks back down to the equipment in the crook of her arm, then back to the window.

_I'm… So close…_ She takes another step forward, her arm twinging painfully, but her palm pressing flat against the icy chill of the glass. Her fingers splay out, and she stares through the gaps in her fingers, transfixed, before her hand moves. It's out of her control, her subconscious directing the limb, and then the window is being dragged open.

The blast of air is arctic and powerful, sending an explosion of white powder into her face and shoving her to the ground, forcefully disconnecting her from the IV and the heart monitor, waves of pain pulsing through her suddenly. The wind and snow swirls chaotically around the room with a loud howl, the temperature of both her body and the room lowering drastically and continuously.

She can tell that she should close the window. Leave the room. Something. But she can't… _The cold is so relaxing…_

* * *

Everything is white when she opens her eyes. She can't remember closing them- can't really remember anything at all, really. Other than that barren, impersonal hospital room. She looks down.

She's no longer connected to any hospital equipment, there's no sign of any of it, and she's similarly no longer dressed in the hospital gown. She is wearing a white coat with a fur lined hood of similar color, gray colored mittens and boots, and a dress beneath that. Her calves and the backs of her knees are freezing, and as snow is blown about wildly, her hair whips around her head. It is deep brown, with a slightly rust colored hue, and long.

There is a crunch distantly in the snow, barely audible over the sound of the wind of the blizzard around her. She turns in the direction of the sound, and spots a hunched figure walking in her direction, their coat and scarf flying around wildly.

As the figure gets closer, she sees that it is a man. He is maybe in his late twenties, and is dressed for the weather. He's wearing a long coat, and a scarf. Something about him is… _Terrifying_.

"Are you lost, little girl?" The man asks. It takes her a moment to compute the words- she knows she understands, and that she has been spoken to before, but she has no memory of it. "If that's the case," the man's lips peel away from his teeth, baring sharpened fangs, his eyes flaring into a livid red glow, "can I drink your blood?"

The man reaches out, palm partially covering her face and fingers wrapping around the overtop of her skull, his other hand grabbing and dragging at the fur lining the collar and hood of her coat. It happens too quickly for her to try and get away or resist, and his face lowers to her throat.

_What's happening- What? No, this isn't- Help! _

A figure appears next to the man in a second, the following sound is loud and sickening, its origin happening before she can visually process it. Something warm and wet splatters against her face, and she collapses to her knees in weak relief. Red flies in every direction, and the image in front of her becomes clear.

There is a boy, in his early teens, maybe. He is wearing a tan colored coat, with a white scarf. His hair is long for a boy, but still short, touching the bottom of his chin in places and the bottom of his nose in others. It is a very dark color, a brown so dark it appears black, and his eyes glow red. He has an arm extended, shoved through the chest of the man who had tried to attack her.

"You're a disgrace to all vampires," the boy says in a frigid voice, a furious monotone.

_Vampires? That man… was a vampire. This boy is also a vampire. _It is familiar to her, in a vague, distant way. Similar to _déjà vu_, the information sifting through her consciousness like sand. The boy retracts his hand, bringing it to his face and licking it. The body of the man drops, and the boy turns completely in her direction, having previously been only partially turned to her.

"Are you okay?" The boy inquires with a distant expression on his face, though his entire attention is on her. When she doesn't respond, the action beyond her at the moment, he frowns slightly and he stops licking at the blood on his hands. "Is everything alright?"

She reaches a hand up to her face, and when the mitten connects to her cheek then pulls away, she is unsurprised to see blood staining the pale wool. She brings it close to her face, oddly transfixed by the crimson stain, and then a hand enters her view, gently pulling her hand back.

"Don't touch that," he scolds gently, releasing her hand from his after a moment of stillness, that hand reaching to her face and swiping at the blood there. "I said… Why are you here alone in this sort of place?" She looks up into his face as he retracts his hand, licking those fingers as his other hand reaches for her own, the one covered in blood.

The question seems disingenuous, asked for the sake of asking, but his eyes are wary, concerned. It is a contrast to his previous expression.

"Come here," he calls as he reaches with his bloody hand, wrapping it around her own without her actually giving it to him, though she doesn't completely mind, as she has blood on herself, anyways, and she would prefer to hold onto him. "I'm Kaname. You?"

She doesn't answer as the scent of blood clots in her nose, and he gives her a look, more searching, still wary and concerned. Either her sudden frantic thoughts are showing in her eyes, or it is her silence that is dragging on that makes him so worried.

_Me? I… Who am I?_ She feels her face heat up, and tears beginning to prick at her eyes. His eyes widen and then his entire body swivels, turning and kneeling down in the snow, reaching forward and wrapping his arms around her, one hand cradling her head close to his neck softly.

"Oh, it's okay… You are afraid, right? It's alright now…" He comforts, voice gentle. She isn't afraid though- well, not anymore. Some tears escape her eyes out of her control, her arms wrapping around his neck.

* * *

"I understand that," the man across from them says, continuing the conversation she has not really been listening to. He has long, ash colored hair and hazel eyes, hidden behind oval shaped wireless glasses. He also seems to be wearing at least four layers of clothes, including a scarf, despite the warmth of his home. Kaname had helped her out of her winter layers, revealing her pale pink colored dress, with a turtleneck-esque collar and long sleeves. Kaname had also taken off her boots, revealing that she hadn't been wearing socks.

"You're the son left behind by the person I am indebted to…" The man continues as she reaches out to take hold of the food that had been given to her. It's golden colored, with what looks like chocolate on top. It isn't that it doesn't look good, because it does, but she isn't actually sure what it is. It jiggles a little, though, as she shakes her hand a little. She sniffs it hesitantly, wary of trying it. "This child doesn't seem to know that pudding can be eaten…"

She glances up in surprise- _pudding? This is pudding? _Then she pokes it hesitantly to test it's texture and hopefully get some onto a finger to taste test it, ignoring the spoon on the side of the dish.

"Yeah… Her memories seem to have disappeared completely," Kaname says in a quiet, subdued tone. He then reaches over, taking the bowl and pulling the spoon from the edge of the dish, scooping up some of the pudding. "You should use a spoon to eat it… Yes, ahhh," he prompts, reaching the spoon to her face after setting the bowl onto his thigh. He opens his mouth, as though to show her what to do, and she is transfixed momentarily by his rust-brown gaze- it's gentle, painfully so, and when she opens her mouth mechanically to eat the bite extended to her, swallowing it immediately, her gaze doesn't stray from his. He seems similarly transfixed for a minute before pushing the bowl of pudding into her hands and standing.

She is left feeling slightly bereft.

"Chairman Cross, I think I should get back," he says in a solemn but stiff tone.

"Back… To that place? It wasn't easy for you to leave… Since your parents have died, that place has become an _Oni's_ den that tries to make use of you…" The man, Chairman Cross, looks disgusted and worried. "Would it be so bad to stay for awhile?"

"Still… I should go back…" Kaname insists, face a disinterested, polite mask. His eyes track back to her, still sitting on the couch and watching him with an intent gaze. "Bye bye," he bids, turning and leaving with a somewhat reluctant air. Cross turns back in her direction after showing Kaname out, and approaches her, crouching in front of her with a kind expression.

"Someone once told me 'all girls are born princesses'. So, from now on you're my 'gentle princess'. So, I'll name you Yuuki. That means 'gentle princess'. Is that okay?" He reaches out to rest a hand on her head, and she doesn't see any need to protest, feeling somewhat more grounded to have a name for herself.

* * *

Yuuki stares at herself in the mirror with a sort of uncomfortable déjà vu.

She has dark brown hair reaching her mid back, pale skin and large rust colored eyes that are almost an exact shade match to her hair, which are what is causing her déjà vu. She is very young, and small, which she hadn't really realized before. She is maybe 5, or an exceptionally small 6 year old. She turns her attention back to the clothes that she had been given to change into before the mirror had startled her.

Cross had been helping her dress whenever she needed to change clothes, not that she protested, and he had left her to try on her own this time, doing something elsewhere in the house.

Sitting down next to the pile of clothes, she pulls the towel from her recent bath up over her shoulders as a type of cloak as an attempt to cover that she is only wearing her underwear, and picks up the nearest article of clothing. It's a sock.

… It's also neon purple.

She holds it up to the light, as though that will somehow change its color. It does not.

"Yuuki, that is wrapping for your foot!" Cross' voice from the doorway is mildly startling, but she does not show it. She turns her gaze to him, still holding the sock up, and gazes at him blandly before dropping the sock and then grabbing another piece of clothing. She keeps him in her peripherals. Cross leans up against the doorframe of the room she had been given, wearing flannel pajamas, wrapped in a visibly thick blanket. "It's been a week, but still no words from you…" He sighs a little, his face worried and fond simultaneously. She frowns slightly- which looks more like a pout, really- and it's a subtle expression.

She has tried to talk, but it just hasn't been happening. Elsewhere in the house, a door slams open. Yuuki, already familiar to what that means, scrambles to get dressed as Cross turns away.

"Good evening Kaname-kun, why suddenly come here?" Cross asks nonchalantly, as though he has no idea why Kaname would be sudden;y barging into his home.

"Eh…?" The voice is definitely Kaname's. Yuuki scrambles slightly frantically, and does not exactly care how she is wearing the clothes she is snatching, so long as she does so. "Didn't you send a telegram saying that vampires who are tracking her attacked this place?" Kaname's voice slowly travels from confused to resigned. "Though I was skeptical… I ran away from my watchers and hurried, running all the way here…"

Cross' snickering prompts his next sentences, spoken in a growling tone that sounds incredibly disappointed.

"You were lying, huh? I won't ever believe you again…" Cross turns to see Yuuki again and begins to yell, making her freeze in place in surprise.

"Kaname-kun! Kaname-kun! Something happened! Look!" She widens her eyes further, absolutely frozen, but then there is Kaname, wide-eyed, looking absolutely gobsmacked. Yuuki is inside of a flannel shirt similar to what Cross is wearing. The shirt is awkward and crooked, her upper half poking out of the collar as though it is a dress, but it is skewed, the shoulder and arm simply atop her head.

"Yuuki put on her clothes by herself!" Cross' face is flushed, his eyes teary. "It's wrong, but…"

With a small gasp, Yuuki snatches up the towel she'd let fall behind her in her mad scramble and throws it over herself, curling up close to the ground like a pillbug. She feels a breeze on the backs of her thighs, but stubbornly remains in place.

That is, until she hears a wheeze of air, a wholly unfamiliar and unexpected sound. She wiggles and lifts her head until she is peeking out of her towel cloak, staring with a mix of awe and surprise. The sound of his laughter is exuberant, loud and earnest. He slaps his palm against the wall afew times, doubling over, and from her low vantage point, she can see his wide smile, eyes closed with small tears at the edges, and flushed cheeks.

He looks years younger. It makes Yuuki kind of sad, actually. That he usually looks and acts so solemn, so much older.

"What… What to do? Kaname-kun has broken down!" Cross frets, pacing in a circle while Kaname is in the midst of hysterics.

"No… No… This is not the time to laugh…" Kaname manages to gasp between his laughter, eventually managing to stop and straighten from where he had been crouched almost completely to the ground. "Ah," he wipes at his face, still flushed and smiling, "sorry if I scared you. I'll leave now…" He turns, smile lessening, and the small bubble of admiration and fondness that had been building without her notice swells up behind her ribs and lodges itself in her throat. "Bye bye…"

She moves before she realizes she is doing so, moving to him and grabbing onto the back of his coat. He turns and his face is shut down, eyes hesitant.

"No," her voice is a surprise, and his eyes widen. "Kana… me." She morphs her face into a smile, trying to convey the warm feelings swarming inside of her. "Kaname."

* * *

"Did you tell a lie to get Kaname to come here again?" Yuuki asks Cross somewhat warily as he fusses at the stove, adamantly ignoring the 'sama' honorific he'd been trying to get her to use in the name of "cuteness"- she isn't _that_ gullible. He really isn't very subtle. His movements twitchy. It's probably because everytime that he does this, Kaname really worries despite always saying that he will never listen to Cross again, and it really doesn't help that Cross is never actually repentant.

Kaname is truly fond of her for reasons she can't completely understand, though she has suspicions (as wild or strange as they are). The reasons for her fondness are fairly obvious, however. He is her savior, and that is the basis of it, no matter how it has evolved.

But no matter his fondness for her, there is really only so often that she can save Cross from Kaname's honestly justified ire before she either stops trying or Kaname simply goes around her to enact his revenge.

Cross' nervous giggling isn't comforting.

She sighs and tromps off to go get dressed to go outside- it has been snowing a lot outside these past few days, so she will really have to get completely dressed. Last time she had not, Kaname had looked so worried for her health and made her promise to never do so again. She'd felt so bad about compounding onto his distress that she'd sworn almost immediately.

It hadn't really helped anything when she got a cold a day later.

She eventually heads outside in a fur lined cloak, dress, white tights and boots, mittens snug over her fingers. She doesn't mind the dresses, but she is thinking about asking Cross for more pants for leisure wear. The dresses make it awfully hard to keep very warm. It is a few minutes before Cross is at the door behind her.

"Yuuki…! It's cold out there, come wait inside." She can tell, instinctively, that there's no point to do so now. She turns, hearing a foot crunching through the upper layer of snow just as her turn is completed.

"Kaname-nii!" She exclaims happily, noting his stiffening as she launches in his direction. His previously polite mask morphs into an awkward smile, his face confused, but happy- though that happiness is something that she is seeing less and less often in his eyes with every visit, as rare as they are.

"Kaname… 'nii'?"He wonders, loud enough for her to hear but seemingly not addressed to her, so she does not respond to it- similarly, she does not feel the need to tell Kaname that Cross had been trying to convince her to call him "Kaname-sama", which… Hadn't sat well with her. She still isn't sure why.

"Today is 'Yuuki's birthday! It's been a year since you saved me," she informs him, smiling up at him and still keeping ahold of his waist. He wraps his arms loosely around her and her smile goes up a few notches at the action, and he turns his head slightly to the side.

"...Hearing that Yuuki had been kidnapped, I rushed over… Haven't you had enough? Can't you call me by normal methods? Don't you think so, Chairman Cross?"

"So, today," Yuuki says. Bouncing slightly in his grasp but not moving away even slightly. He looks back at her. "Congratulations. Kaname-nii!" She cheers as chirpily as she can. At his slightly dumbfounded look, she hesitates, her expression getting fixed in place. "Right…?" _Did I mess up?_

"No, it's wrong, Yuuki," Kaname corrects gently with a small smile, moving down to close to a kneel with a small smile and a softened gaze. "Today, it's congratulations to Yuuki- to you." He leans closer to her. "But, thank you," he murmurs, pressing his lips against her forehead carefully.


	2. Second Evening

**_Iris D. Peverell, I see your point! I can't confirm or deny though cause I have _plans. _Also thanks for the review! It meant a lot to me to get one._**

**_To the guest who asked me about Yuuki's humanity (which, where are you in the review list? I only know about this from my email?), I can neither confirm nor deny._**

**_To the _other_ guest who gave me a compliment- thanks! I'm doing my best to make it good and will make more because it's fun to write!_**

**_kiki8o, I see your review (which actually appeared in the review list, woah!) and I can sort of answer you. My understanding of a "self insert" is putting oneself into a story. I see this as myself. Yes this will have the more typical self insert stuff later, yes she will remember, but I'm following canon in this instance and going with "Juri sealed off Yuuki's vampire self and memories". In canon, Yuuki retained alot of her core personality after the spell, from what I can tell, so I'm using that and other bits to my advantage. It'll all be explained in time, don't worry! I've got _plans**

* * *

_"There are vampires. They are real, they are of our time, and they are here, close by, stalking us as we sleep."_

_\- Nicky Raven, Dracula_

It is another year before she brings up to Cross the open secret that he has painfully obviously been avoiding explaining to her. She asks whilst he is going through his paperwork, and she is working on her homework, as he is always serious when doing his paperwork. Her long hair is braided back to the small of her back in a long tail.

"Kaname-nii is a vampire," she asks, though it is closer to a statement of fact than a true inquiry.

"Yes," Cross confirms without looking up at her. "The existence of vampires has not been approved of by the government, however. So, Yuuki, you must keep it a secret," he continues, somewhat pointlessly. She is, of course, not going to tell anyone.

"Secret…" She whispers to herself, thinking back to glowing red eyes, like the embers of a fire, and a blood covered hand that should have terrified but did not. "Are vampires much stronger than humans?" She asks next. There is a silence, and at it, Yuuki looks up to meet Cross' startled, slightly speculative hazel gaze with her rust-brown one. She has maybe half a plan blooming haltingly just beneath her surface thoughts, driven partially by her fear of that unknown vampire that still haunts her nightmares sometimes, and the rest driven by Kaname.

His wariness and hesitancy, as though she could shatter at any second, or disappear whenever he turns from her for a moment. She wants that to go away, and at least half of her motivation is selfish...

She wants hugs from Kaname. Cross' hugs are fine, really, and help her desperation for tactile reassurance and care, but he never just hugs. He always swirls around, squeezing too tightly, squealing and crying, and it's disorienting. Anytime she hugs Kaname, he goes still, which would be fine if it wasn't complete stillness where he practically broadcasts hesitant hope and painful awkwardness.

Cross must see something in her eyes, because he sets everything down, prompting her to do the same, his expression completely serious. She gives him her full attention as he begins to explain to her about the levels or "classes" of vampires in as much detail as he believes relevant- which is a startling amount, for all his fawning and babying behavior, he is taking her seriously in this and she is grateful. She does her best to memorize what he is saying, or at least ingrain the gist into her head.

There is talk about Purebloods, Class A's. Aristocrats, Class B's. 'Normal' vampires, Class C's. Ex-Humans, Class D's. And then Class E's, Level End vampires. Vampires that used to be human, and went mad from bloodlust, marked for death.

"It isn't their fault they've degenerated," Cross explains with an incredibly resigned expression. "But they're _always_ marked for death- they're too dangerous to let live, Yuuki. They're created by a Pureblood vampire turning a human into a Class D vampire, and then that turned vampire not receiving that Purebloods blood to make them into a Class C vampire. Ex-humans rarely ever become Class C vampires though, Yuuki, and that's part of why the Vampire Hunter Association exists."

"That's…" Yuuki can't really complete the thought. She closes her eyes after a moment, packing away the incomprehension and slight terror, squaring her shoulders. She then looks up to Cross' eyes, her own firm.

"Teach me to defend myself, please, Cross," she requests. Cross startles and then flails about dramatically, all of his seriousness falling away like a sheet of water.

_"Call me father!"_

She doesn't hesitate. "Please teach me, father."

It's an instant K.O., and he collapses backwards with a deliriously happy expression, one hand clutching at his chest.

"Of course, Yuuki-chan!" He trills. She wants to be disgusted or exasperated at his dramatic behavior, but after three years with him, all she feels is a somewhat disgruntled fondness. Her lips quirk and she turns her attention back to her homework, allowing Cross to collect himself. He's a man of his word, and will get back to her about training, even though she ruthlessly manipulated him into the agreement.

* * *

Kaname's next visit is a year and a half later, other than his birthday visit which he always makes, and it is the first visit he makes entirely unprompted. It's autumn, Yuuki is ten-soon-to-be-eleven and in the yard, practicing hand-to-hand with Cross. She is still much weaker than he, which isn't really a surprise, as she is both younger and much smaller, as well as completely human, but she has been improving rapidly.

Doesn't stop him from tossing her into piles of leaves every chance he gets as a kind of "motivation". She is certain he is doing it because he thinks she is cute when she pops out of the piles with leaves in her hair and a black look.

Cross, who she mostly only calls father when they are alone or when she wants something, says that she is strong enough to absolutely floor the average human male. Which is good and shows progress to her goal- which is to be strong enough to no longer scare or worry Kaname by existing in his vicinity, or in the vicinity of other vampires, and to be able to protect herself so she is never helpless against a vampire again. He'd said that she might be able to take down a Class D vampire with a weapon, luck and help, but an Class E would be beyond her for a few more years. There really is only so much her young human body can do against vampires or hunters. She can accept that.

"What's going on here?" Oh, there's a _lot_ of emotions in that question. Yuuki and Cross stop sparring and turn, Yuuki's legs already tensing. She springs at him without any verbal warning once she completes her turn, but he hardly startles more than a step, and even that is more due to momentum than any true surprise.

"Ah, Kaname-nii!" She chirps, slightly giddy from the post-fight adrenaline. "I asked Cross to teach me self-defense!" This is a defense of Cross and an answer to his explanation. Cross' typical wailing and dramatics are ignored by them both.

"May I ask why?" Kaname asks, his ire visibly lessening in response, though not actually disappearing.

"I…" She hesitates, glancing aside at Cross, then pursing her lips and reaching out, grabbing his hands in her own and pulling at them. "Follow me!" She insists when he doesn't move. He allows her to pull him along, looking increasingly bemused, and Yuuki calls out behind her- "don't follow us!" and hears Cross pouting and complaining loudly in their wake.

She pulls Kaname along with her into the forest surrounding Cross' home for a few minutes before stopping. She releases him, takes a single further step ahead and then turns to face him completely, her willpower dedicated to keeping her from blushing furiously.

"You're a vampire. A pureblood vampire," she begins, immediately seeing her mistake as he visibly assumes the worst- that she's learning self defense to protect herself from him. She falls into an immediate panic.

"Yuuki, I-" She cuts him off.

"No! No, that isn't what I- let me explain!" She lurches forward and grabs his hands in her own again, staring into his closed off face intently. "No, what I mean is- you like me, right?" She asks, floundering slightly and turning red. His eyes widen and she can see his thoughts stalling through his eyes, so she continues despite his non-answer. "You like me- I don't know why. But you're a vampire- a pureblood. That means you're important, and you have enemies. But you like me, and come to visit me, and you worry about me all the time you're gone. I can tell. So, I'm getting stronger, so that you can worry less and smile more. Okay? It isn't because I want to protect myself from you, it's so I can protect myself _for_ you. For your happiness." She flushes deep red, and releases him when his arms go limp and his hands become dead-weight in her own.

She shuffles a little in place, ducking her head, not having expected to say so much- it had just come out, and at least part of it wasn't anything that she'd actually consciously decided or known. It's a little (a lot) embarrassing that she said all of that, but that stupid balloon of emotion is swelling up in her chest again. Affection, warmth and a helpless gratefulness.

"I-" Kaname is apparently at a loss for words, and Yuuki glances up at him through her bangs, which had shifted to fall over her eyes. Unknown to her, her face is still flushed red and her face has twisted into a moue of embarrassed hesitance, and Kaname freezes in place before reaching out and grabbing ahold of her, tugging her into a hug, wrapping close around her.

She takes a moment to enjoy the warmth of the hug, lifting her hands up to clench them into the back of his coat, digging her face into his stomach.

"Thank you for your care, Yuuki," he says after a long pause, and she can feel the words in his body before she even hears them. "I wish you wouldn't feel like you have to do this, but…" He slowly peels her away from him, leaning down to look her in the eyes. "Don't worry about me, okay, Yuuki? I'll be okay, and I'll keep you safe."

"Kaname!" She yells suddenly, forgoing the honorifics like she had done when she was small, and capturing his attention even further. "You don't have to worry about protecting me! I'm gonna to do it myself, and I'll protect you, too!" She insists hotly, that balloon swelling and becoming hot and painful.

"Yuuki-"

"Do you think I can't?" She demands, interrupting him. Kaname's eyes widen and he seems frozen. "That I'm useless, and you have to protect me, and that I'm just... Unable to be strong?" Beyond her control, her eyes tear up, and she steps away from him. He unfreezes, reaching forward, and she sniffs, her upset expression twisting into a teary glare. "No! You don't trust me." Her voice is low and hurt, and she runs past him back towards the house.

She bypasses Cross when she exits the woods, running into the house heedless of his calls, and the closing herself into her room, feeling incredibly hurt. It is ten minutes before Cross is knocking on her door, telling her that Kaname has gone away. She doesn't respond, and her door is pushed open shortly after.

Yuuki is bundled up in her blankets, tucked up under her bed and staring at him with hurt, red eyes.

"Yuuki?" Cross asks, folding down into criss-cross-applesauce, staring at her in concern. "Yuuki, what happened?" Sniffing, she wiggles out and sits on her legs, knees together and looking miserable.

"Kaname-nii doesn't trust me. He thinks I can't protect anything," she mumbles sulkily. Cross makes a sympathetic noise and opens his arms in a 'come and get a hug' way. Usually she would not do so but her emotions are very tremulous and she is feeling incredibly dejected. So she crawls forward, taking her blanket with her, and settles into his lap. Cross tucks the blanket up close around her, pulling her close, allowing her to tuck her face into his neck.

"Kaname-kun is a complicated boy, Yuuki, and it isn't that he doesn't trust you, okay?" He says gently. "It's probably just that he feels responsible for your safety or happiness. Do you understand?" She does, but…

"Why didn't he just _say so?_ Instead of hurting me?" She sniffles, increasingly teary-eyed despite her best attempts to prevent it. Cross doesn't say anything, only continuing to hold onto Yuuki.


	3. Third Evening

**So those first two chapters were everything I had prewritten. From here on out, it's WIP chapters and notebook scribbling during classtime!** **Chapters might seem short, and that's because they are. I'm breaking up relevant pre-story scenes by chapter. Once we reach canon-time they'll probably be longer.**

**I couldn't find any quotes I liked so this time it'll be without. _Answers to reviews are in the previous chapters authors note! I got ahead of myself._**

* * *

Yuuki isn't able to see Kaname on her birthday, though not through any fault of her own. He comes when she is asleep and leaves a gift for her with Cross, who doesn't wake her until he is gone on his request.

She feels relieved that she won't have to see him, hurt that he is so clearly avoiding her, and somewhat fond, because he still came and got her a gift, despite the avoidance.

Well, Kaname drops off _two_ gifts, and a note.

_The second gift is from Ichijou Takuma, and he chose it without allowing me to see it. Please, tell me if it is inappropriate._

_Happy birthday, Yuuki._

There wasn't a name on the note, but it was fairly obvious who sent the gift. Yuuki had felt as though it was Kaname trying to soothe her feathers. As though a present would just make everything "alright". She pointedly does not open his gift first, despite how much she wants to.

Ichijou's gift is an 8 volume set of action-fantasy manga. It's about a gladiator princess who goes around the world, overthrowing tyrants and placing other princesses in power. She isn't completely sure why he sent it to her, or if she'll like it, but that isn't really the most interesting thing about the gift. No, the most interesting thing about the gift is the note she finds between the stacked volumes.

_Yuuki-chan, my name's Ichijou Takuma! You've never met me, but Kaname really does talk about you to me often. He'd never admit it to you (or me, really), but he cares for you very much, and misses you often. Lately, he's been very depressed and thoughtful, and I hope that you will forgive him soon!_

_\- Ichijou Takuma_

Cross' gift proves to be interesting. It's a small metal cylinder, with small grooves along it's center, and a stylized crest on either end shaped vaguely like a flower. In the box is also a leather harness type thing, and Yuuki frowns at both items with confusion, looking up.

"What's this?" She asks, studying Cross' calm face as she rolls the cylinder around in her hand, gripping at it experimentally. It fits snugly in her palm, the grooves giving it some traction for her grip, but that's about it.

"That is something I meant to give you when you were older. But, with how you've been progressing, I decided to do it now." Cross explains, settling in to sit more comfortably on the floor across from her. "That's an anti-vampire weapon named Artemis. It was left to me by a dear friend, along with one other weapon. I'm deciding to give it to you, and starting tomorrow, I'll be teaching you how to use it."

"An… anti-vampire weapon?" Yuuki echoes, looking down in confusion at the metal rod in her hands. It doesn't seem like a weapon- well, unless it's meant to be a projectile? Is she going to be throwing it? That doesn't seem right.

"Yes. It has the ability to damage vampires, as you might have guessed, and can't be touched by vampires at all or it will burn them," Cross confirms.

"How do I use it?" She asks, looking back to him. He only smiles and nudges Kaname's gift forward. She pouts a little at him, but pulls it closer and opens it.

It's three pairs of black slacks in her size, two pairs of black steel toed boots, one in her size and one a size larger, both with detachable cleats. Yuuki stares at the gift for a little while, realizing that it isn't his way of bribing her to smooth over her upset, it's a silent apology.

"He…" Yuuki begins, disbelieving and unable to finish her thoughts. After a time, she snorts a small laugh. "How clumsy of him." She snickers fondly before looking up to Cross, who's watching her with a soft smile on his face. "Pass on my 'thank you' to Ichijou-san and Kaname-nii, please?" He nods, and she gathers up her gifts and goes to her room, eyeing Artemis as she goes.

It's two hours before she's able to unlock Artemis, the cylinder snapping out into a rod that's nearly three times her height. She'd ended up whacking herself in the face with the metal due to the quick extension, resulting in a bloody nose and blood-slick metal. The metal had sparked, which had been weird to see, and then she'd cleaned herself up before cleaning off Artemis. Then she'd spent another few hours collapsing and extending it, which resulted in three other strikes to the face and strikes to various other limbs before she got the hang of it.

When Cross came to get her for dinner and cake, as they'd put it off until later in the day despite opening her gifts early in the morning, she had blood crusted in the beds of her nails and dotted all along her collar. There was panicked fluttering and scolding for not waiting, but Yuuki feels proud, regardless.

* * *

She's walking to meet Kaname in the town, to prevent either of them from avoiding the other. Artemis is strapped to her leg, hidden under the bottom half of her thick coat, Beneath her coat, she's wearing a sweater and black skirt, her feet are covered knee high black socks and the boots Kaname had sent her for her birthday. The scarf that'd been pressed into her hands is still in her hands. It isn't quite winter, as the leaves have only just started changing color a week ago, but Cross had actually tried to swaddle her in enough upper layers to look like a marshmallow. She'd barely gotten out of the house in what she is wearing.

_Kaname-nii is supposed to__ be passing by this area as he makes his way to the house,_ the eleven year old thinks to herself, lifting on her toes slightly to see through the people. There aren't that many, not really, but she isn't really used to being around more than two people at once. She wanders around the area for awhile, alone and bored, and as it begins to get dark, she begins to feel uneasy.

_Cross said I shouldn't have to worry about vampires here in town, so why do I feel so unsettled?_ Her heart rate jumps out of her control without any way for her to tell why.

The reaction of prey receiving the complete attention of a predator.

She drops her hand onto Artemis through her coat, feeling the shape of the metal through the fabric and knowing she can extend it within seconds if she has to. She isn't sure how well she would do against a vampire if she was attacked, but she's really not going to go down without a fight.

She's been training for a year and a half, nearly two years, to protect herself. She's not prey and she refuses to be such. She doesn't know where the feeling is coming from, but that isn't going to stop her. She's afraid, but Kaname is somewhere nearby even if she isn't able to defend herself, and she's sure Cross is somewhere close as well. He's too clingy and protective not to be.

She looks straight ahead and finally spots the origin of the sensation, having been checking behind her because, somewhere in her brain, it said that predators stalked from behind. But obviously not, as the man approaching her is stalking her from in front of her, allowing her to come to him as he travels closer to her. He has long, unbound bleached hair, and is dressed in a very odd way compared to everyone else around the area. A pair of dark shades, a collar with a piece of a chain attached to it, a leather jacket with the collar popped and similarly leather pants. As the man walks closer, a hand lifting to remove his sunglasses and connecting his gaze with her own, she can hear Cross' voice in her mind, as though through a thick film.

_"Remember, Yuuki.. There are some vampire who mingle with humans in the streets, so you have to be careful!"_

The man is within ten feet of her when a hand lands on her right shoulder, a body moving close on her left side. The man- almost certainly a vampire- puts his glasses back on and sweeps into a formal bow, one arm crossing in front of his chest and his upper half lowering at the waist. Surprised, Yuuki turns to check who is behind her. She catches sight of a scary expression on Kaname's face before it morphs into a small smile.

"Yuuki," he greets.

"Kaname-nii!" She cheers, launching into him. He takes a startled step back, bending slightly at the impact, and Yuuki is distantly aware of the vampire passing them on the left. She turns her attention up to his face with a smile of greeting.

"Aren't you afraid, walking alone on the streets?" Kaname inquires, stepping back slightly and peering into her face. His expression is concerned, his eyes tired.

"I knew you were nearby! I'd never be scared when you're nearby!" She denies, shaking her head. Kaname's face grows even more solemn, and before he can say anything, she continues. "And, anyway, I've been training, remember?" She hops a little, not bothering to do anything about the hand she feels land on her head. "When we get to the house, I want to show you! I've been getting good!" She insists, grabbing the hand not on her head and beginning to pull him along.

"Are you not mad at me anymore?" Kaname asks, sounding hesitant and polite.

"You sent me an apology," she denies, shaking her head. "It was a silly way of apologizing, but I really appreciated the gifts." She pointedly takes a large step, drawing his attention to the boots she's wearing. His face is somewhat surprised. "It was really thoughtful, you know?"

"Ah," his face softens into the sincere smile she'd missed over the last year or so. "Alright."


	4. Fourth Evening

**So here's Zero! Kaname will be appearing in the next chapter because at the moment I'm figuring out the exact timing of that. There are some hints and subtle (_I hope_) things in this that I'm repidly building up to as I start to derail canon!**

**_To the guest who mentioned Yuuki's feelings toward Kaname, I can try and explain that a bit! So, when she first "woke up", she didn't really have any solid memories. Just a vague "knowledge". Almost right away she's attacked by this man, and then there's Kaname, who saves her life and takes her to safety. My impression is something close to how ducklings can imprint on a person? That person means safety and comfort and such, you know? Of course there's feelings and memories expanding off of that, but thats the core of the relationship._**

**_I, personally, am a really loyal, apathetic and pragmatic person. I tend to get really clingy with people who show me affection, or allow me to be touchy with them. I generally keep my distance from adults and young children. I'm also mostly a doormat unless with people I trust won't leave me behind or speak about me behind my back. I'm bleeding these traits into Yuuki in this, and doing my best to keep true to both myself and an amnesiac, isolated girl._**

* * *

Eleven and a half, Yuuki Cross can smell the blood from where she stands. It's a faint smell, but familiar.

"Yuuki, this boy's parents were killed by a vampire," Cross tells her, his gaze not fixing on either the boy or Yuuki. Instead it is far away. Yuuki wonders briefly if Cross had known his parents- if they'd been friends. She can see blood on the boy's right cheek, and he is swaddled in an unfamiliar, large coat that brushes his ankles. His face is mostly downturned, his eyes shadowed. His hair is short and silver, surprisingly clean of the blood she can smell.

"It's a miracle that he managed to survive," Cross continues. "Please look after him while he's staying with us, okay?" Cross begins to turn back toward the front door. "He's still covered in blood, so give him a bath first. I have to go talk to the police." And then he's gone, the front door closing behind him.

The boy doesn't so much as twitch, not shifting at all and seeming to be breathing very shallowly. Yuuki is sure that the scent of blood must be incredibly unpleasant and overpowering for him. She makes her way closer, watching his face carefully, feeling as though she's somehow approaching a wary animal. From what she can tell, he isn't actually tracking her movements at all.

"Let's…" Trailing off, she approaches his side, keeping a careful watch on his face. "Can I touch you?" She asks, moving her hands where he can see them. When he doesn't respond, she rests a careful hand on his back and the other on the shoulder closest to her. He moves at her slight push easily, but doesn't seem to be really paying it any attention.

From right next to him, the scent of blood is almost overwhelming.

Eventually they reach the bathroom, and Yuuki draws him a hot bath. She explains the soaps and retrieves him some towels before leaving the room, but when she'd returned to check on him after fifteen minutes, he'd shown no signs of having moved at all.

"Um…" She doesn't know his name, she realizes a little too late, before continuing with uncertainty. "I… Shall I help you with your clothes?" She reaches slowly for the edges of the coat he is swaddled in, and notices his arms going lax. His face still doesn't shift, his eyes remaining unfocused. Due to the brighter lighting of the bathroom, she can tell now that his eyes are a light lilac color before the coat is removed and his eyes are the last thing on her mind.

_I knew there was blood, but… so much? Is it all from him, or someone else?_ He isn't wearing a shirt, and there's blood smeared on the right side of his throat, face and upper chest, some of it wet but a majority of it congealed or mostly dried. Yuuki can't tell if there's an injury beneath all of the blood, and it worries her.

"I'm going to wipe that off and treat your wound, if you have one," she explains to the likely catatonic boy. She grabs a washcloth from the edge of the bathtub, dipping it into the lukewarm water after pulling her sleeves up to her elbows, then wringing the excess water out. When she reaches it toward his neck, there's a sense of threat- like the boy is a trapped, vigilant animal, suddenly more intent on her despite all signs pointing to the contrary. She hesitates slightly before continuing her movement. The sense fades when the cloth connects and the boy doesn't visibly react at all. She manages to clean the blood simply and quickly, revealing that there's no injury beneath it.

The scent of blood persists even after she's dropped the dirty washcloth back into the bathtub.

Somehow, the boy's lack of injury doesn't comfort Yuuki at all.

* * *

She wakes up to the smell of blood. In her room, there's no visible explanation for the scent at first, but a glance to her door reveals it being open a crack. She isn't completely sure why, as she always closes her door.

Climbing to her feet, she paces out into the hallway, looking around. She glances at her door, revealing the blood smell that had woken her had been blood smeared on her doorknob. None of the lights are on so it's a little hard to tell, though. The scent of blood is stronger to her left, in the direction of a small reading nook, so she carefully makes her way over in that direction, not turning any lights on.

In the shadows of the area, tucked into the corner of the room near the fireplace embedded into the wall, is a small masculine body. It's Zero, who she's only known for about a week and a half, in his pyjamas. It's difficult for Yuuki to completely see him, but as she gets closer, the smell of blood is stronger and she can see him more clearly.

"Zero-kun? What are you doing?" She asks, stopping a few feet away from him. Zero has a hand up to his neck, and she can see blood on his fingers and cheek, his neck mostly covered by his hand.

"I can still feel _that woman_," Zero's voice is slow and bland. "It feels disgusting." There's movement in his hand, the scent of blood increasing, and she realizes that Zero is scratching his neck to ribbons.

"Ze-" Yuuki chokes on her words, hurrying forward and grasping onto his hand. The scent of blood is powerful this close, her ever-present deja vu at the scent resurfacing. "Zero… By '_that woman_', you mean that vampire who killed your family and hurt you, right? You don't… You don't have to scratch away the feeling of her, you know?" She presses her free hand against the bloody skin, her eyes tearing up but determinedly meeting his own.

His face is blank, his eyes similarly so.

"You're okay now, alright? Your skin is clean, and that woman will never touch you again. I promise. Okay? Please, stop this…"


	5. Fifth Evening

**_To the guests who complimented my story, thanks! I didn't really like canon!Yuuki, either. She disappointed me in clutch moments._** **_I hope my version of Yuuki is sufficiently different and good!_**

**That said, we're about four-ish chapters from the start, I think? I haven't really gone through it comprehensively lately and am not really in the mindset to write anything unstructured, so too many fillers are unlikely, but there's going to be one next chapter at least**, **for my _plan_ and additional character development.**

* * *

"We're moving?" Yuuki asks Cross, trying and failing to understand _why_ they would be relocating with Zero still so new and unsettled with them. Said boy is lurking near the back of the room, his neck rebandaged after he'd woken up late in the night to scratch at the still-healing wound again. He had opened her door again to get her about it once he'd been fully awake, and she'd helped him with the bandages once she got over the fright of waking up from a dead sleep to the smell of blood, and found him standing over her. He hadn't been staring, exactly, from what she could gather, but had mostly just been undecided about whether to wake her or not.

"Yes!" Cross says in a bright and cheerful voice. "I have projects in the works at Cross Academy, and I have to be on campus to oversee them! So, we're all going to move into the house I had built there!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Cross?" Yuuki doesn't bother reacting to his caterwauling about calling him _Father_, instead keeping her gaze locked onto his face.

"Yes!" He declares insistently. "And once we're there, I'll be able to enroll you both in as students!" Zero and Yuuki both, who have never attended an actual school, stiffen with apprehension. Yuuki casts a glance in Zero's direction, but other than his stiffened position and slightly perturbed expression, she can't tell what he is thinking about the idea.

* * *

It's three months into their stay in the new house, Zero's neck once more rewrapped with bandages, that it happens. The clash between the old system and the new. They're eating dinner, and Zero has been pushing his food around for the past five minutes.

"Kiryuu-kun. We actually have a guest coming over…" Cross tells Zero carefully from across the table. Yuuki, from where she sits next to him, perks up slightly with interest.

"So late at night?" Comes the subdued question from Zero, who scrapes his fork harshly against his plate when the doorbell rings. It's a loud, unfamiliar sound.

"Yes. Yuuki, you go answer the door," Cross instructs, keeping a watchful eye on Zero before they both turn to watch Yuuki troop out of the room and then turn a corner, disappearing from their sight. "You'll probably be able to tell, but I think you should be able to see it with your own eyes…"

"What is it?" Zero asks, but is not answered as Yuuki pulls open the front door. Standing on the other side is Kaname, who is now at least twice her height. Yuuki smiles in surprised delight, all thoughts and worries momentarily fleeing.

"Ah, Kaname-nii!" She exclaims, jumping up to hug him. He gives a small, fond laugh, walking into the house with her still attached to him at the neck. He closes the door behind him, and Yuuki gives a small laugh as he finally returns her hug before detaching her from him, resting a hand on her head. She reaches up a hand to wrap it around his wrist, and her face morphs from a smile into a pout. "You got taller again," she accuses, starting to walk backwards down the hall in the direction of the kitchen. She's an entire head shorter than Kaname's shoulders, which is somewhat unfair.

"I can't help it," he denies her accusation with a small smile. She huffs a little before hesitating to pull Kaname into sight of the kitchen and Zero, especially. She is sure that something bad is going to happen when Zero sees Kaname, and she's worried for the silver haired boy if Kaname were to take offense. He's incredibly gentle with her, and lenient with Cross, but she still worries.

"Please, don't…" She can't quite articulate what she's asking, but by the way his reddish gaze flicks from her to the kitchen, she can tell he at least gets the gist of her request. His hand falls from atop her head to cradle her cheek, her hand still around his wrist, before he rotates his wrist and captures her hand in his own.

"Alright," he agrees before making the last few steps into the kitchen doorway himself, the movement tucking her close into his side. When she can see the kitchen, she sees that Cross is standing. Once Kaname is fully revealed, Zero shoots into a stand as well, his chair toppling backwards. His eyes are wide, his already pale skin losing any color it might have had. One of his hands lands on the table, and she watches it grope along until it comes in contact with one of their dinner knives.

"Zero…" Yuuki calls, trying to get his attention. She watches Cross shift on his feet, crossing his arms as Zero swipes the knife into a reverse grip. "Zero, stop!" Yuuki shouts, trying to intercept him. Zero doesn't seem to realize she's there, keeping his gaze on Kaname, and she realizes just a second too late that her being in his way isn't going to stop him. Kaname pivots, the hand gripping her own releasing her hand to press into her upper chest, just beneath her collar bone. His other hand is slung in front of her face, blocking Zero's strike. She can see the tip of the blade in front of her face, covered with blood, having forced its way through the smaller bones in Kaname's forearm, near his hand. The point is maybe an inch from her left eyebrow.

"Vampire!" Zero's voice is loud- the loudest she's ever heard it, and from what she can see of his face, it's enraged. It's a big change from the apathy he's been showcasing in his time with Cross and herself.

"Ah, Kaname!" She shouts reflexively, jolting forward in worry.

"Slashing at me so suddenly… That's not so nice of you. What if Yuuki had been hurt?" Kaname asks, peering down at his face blandly.

"Shut up, vampire! You smell just like 'that woman'!" Zero snarls furiously.

"'That woman'? So, you are Zero Kiryuu? I heard about you." Kaname releases her to reach around and grasp the knife still in Zero's grasp, pulling it free of his arm and then Zero's grasp without so much as a wince or visible effort. "I'm sorry about your family," he says as he tosses the knife to the ground, "but I have no intention of getting killed by you."

The knife clatters to the ground between their feet, and Yuuki is able to see the terrible expression on Zero's face. It's dark, pained and resentful, but overall it's very sad.

"You're taking your anger out on the wrong person, Kiryuu-kun," Cross tells Zero, reaching a hand over to land on his back. Zero does not look away from Kaname and Yuuki, who's turned her attention away from Zero and onto Kaname.

"Kaname-nii, the blood…" She worries, reaching out to his hand.

"It's nothing. It'll heal soon. I am a vampire, remember?" Kaname denies, pulling his injury away from her and tucking the limb behind him and out of her sight. "And, anyway, I'm not the one who is feeling 'pain', here." Yuuki frowns and looks over to Zero, who has just turned away and is walking back towards his room.

She wants to go to him, but Kaname is here. And… She's maybe a little afraid of Zero, right now. It's strange, feeling like this, but she can't really help it- he'd almost stabbed her in the face, if Kaname hadn't intervened. She isn't sure he'd want to see her, anyway. She had, after all, been the kind to bring a vampire into the house where he was meant to be safe. It must have been a nasty shock.

She'll go to him once Kaname's left. With how closed off he seems to be now, it won't be long.

"I'll come again some other time, Chairman Cross. It would probably be best if I left for now," Kaname explains.

"Oh, alright, Kaname-kun-" Cross flutters for a short while before Yuuki is shooed away. She goes with minimal fuss, allowing them their privacy. She's fairly certain Kaname had legitimately come to talk to Cross, either way. Five minutes later, Kaname's car has driven away with him inside of it and Yuuki is hesitantly pushing her way through Zero's slightly ajar door.

"Zero? Kana- the vampire has left. I'm sorry that I didn't warn you..." She approaches him cautiously. He's sitting on his bed, one leg tucjed up close to his chest, with his face pressed into his knee. He hasn't so much as twitched since she's been in the room.

She reaches a hand out to Zero, and it's only her training with Cross that allows her to dodge his quick swipe. Her hair swishes at the displaced air, telling her that strike would've hurt.

"Don't you dare touch me with the hands that touched him!" Zero snarls at her, livid violet meeting wide rust. His face is flushed with his indignation rather than the paleness of his fury, which is a cold comfort to the sharp pain in her chestvat Zero's outright hostility. She hadn't been prepared for it, and it's a pain that's bitterly familiar in ways she can't really understand.

"Kaname-nii is a vampire who saved my life from a level E, and he's been nothing but kind to me," Yuuki decides to say after a while, figuring that Zero deserves some explanation for Kaname's apparently upsetting presence. "He's also an important pureblood vampire."

Zero's face is pinched with anxious confusion as he tucks both knees to his chest, his gaze no longer searing into her as she stands before his bed.

"There's something wrong with you. Both Chairman Cross, _and you._ Associating with vampires..."

Yuuki doesn't get any closer, allowing him the space he'd insisted on before her face softens into a pained, gentle smile.

"I'll leave, Zero..." She bids, turning with a small wave to the boy who is now ignoring her. "Sorry..."


	6. Sixth Evening

_**To guest "potato" (?), her maturity and intelligence is mostly because **_**I'm **_like that, honestly!_

**_Other guest, "si" means "self insert", as in the writer putting their own traits or memories over top of a character. "nii" is an honorific that means "older brother"._**

**_lunarlegend11, You'd never guess how smiley and excited I got when I saw the length of your review!_**

**_The "reading emotions" thing is coming from auras that are visible in the manga, actually! The sensing thing is partly because of how much certain things or people are given emphasis, and partly because of my own paranoia and hypervigilance. When I'm not with people I explicitly trust, I'm able to tell when someone is approaching me or when someone has been looking at me sith too much focus from any angle. The idea of Yuuki being empathic to some degree is interesting, though. Food for thought!_**

**_I tagged this story as "friendship" because I don't understand romance or its motivating emotions, and don't intend for it to be a focus in this story. It might appear, but it won't be initiated or knowingly reciprocated by Yuuki, because as a self-insert, I'm giving her this quirk of mine. Romantic situations or intimate situations with romantic subtext make me uncomfortable. I don't currently know if I will be writing any romance, but if I do it will be subtle or drama-free, and it will definitely not include a love triangle. _At all. No love triangles.**

**_That said, I hope to hear from you again, my fellow ace! It was really nice to read your review and answer some of your questions (though some I can't answer on the basis of spoilers). I'm glad you think my characterization is correct, and I hope to continue making it so!_**

* * *

_There's a woman, and it's dark. She's smaller than the woman, who is cradling her close. There is a hitch in breath, and the scent of blood. Yuuki turns, facing the door of the darkened room._

_"Mother? Mother, I smell blood," Yuuki worries, trying to struggle free. There's no give, and suddenly the scent of blood is worse. "Mother?" Her voice is frightened, and Yuuki turns back to the woman. There's blood running down the woman's face, and her face is in an expression of pained pity and resigned love. Yuuki can tell something is happening, but her senses fail her._

_"Not now." The voice is incredibly close and does not belong. Yuuki swirls, and the scene disappears. In front of her is a small pond, surrounded by a forest. It's very dark in the trees, but there are small fireflies flickering just above the surface of the pond. Yuuki looks around, but can't spot anything at first before creeping closer to the water._

_A few feet beneath the still surface, there's a casket. It looks to be made of glass and silver, and she can see herself inside of it. Her eyes are open, but more reddish, and her face is twisted in an expression of mixed fear, anger and anxiety. There's a sound behind her, glass clinking and grinding together, and Yuuki turns. There's a vaguely human figure there, comprised of shards of glass and grains of sand. Yuuki can make out a single amber-brown eye, and sallow skin._

_"It's too early right now," the figure reprimands. There's the sound of grinding glass above her head before it surges_ _forward-_

Yuuki jumps upright in bed with a choked gasp. For a second, she sees shadows swirling along the walls unnaturally before they vanish to their correct places. She quickly does her best to subdue her breathing into as quietly as she can get it, and tucks her knees up close to her chest.

She feels watched. _H__unted_. She doesn't want to be alone, but Cross is out tonight and Zero is mad at her, still. Well, she's pretty sure that Zero's still mad at her. She doesn't really want to risk bothering him and making him hate her more.

_"I'm hungry,"_ there's a distant, feminine whisper. It's so quiet and almost completely subvocalized and she forcibly ignores that it might have come from inside of her head. She bolts out of bed and leaves her room. She stalls in the hallway before walking to the kitchen, creeping past Zero's door as quietly as she can. She gets a cup of water before turning on heel and making her way into the living room and curling up on the couch, sipping at her water slowly. Yuuki can hear a door open and then feet padding in her direction, and spots Zero in the doorway from the hall to the living room.

"Zero?" Yuuki murmurs, peering at him cautiously. His eyes narrow slightly and he approaches where she sits on the couch, standing in front of her for a minute before crouching down to look into her eyes. They're slightly dulled, a little red.

"What's wrong?" Zero asks eventually. His voice doesn't have any inflection, but his eyes are worried.

"... Bad dream, I think," she answers after a second, not bothering to mention the specifics, or the unsettling whisper. Zero frowns at her before sitting down on the couch next to her without another word. Yuuki doesn't shift or speak, not really feeling up to acting socially or very kindly. But the longer Zero sits with her, the less hunted she feels, and the more the pain he'd previously inspired in her chest fades. "Are you still angry with me?" Yuuki asks after awhile, her voice very quiet and hesitant.

"No," Zero eventually explains after a glance at her face. "...I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's alright. I understand," she denies his implied apology, before uncurling a little to extend a hand toward Zero in the dark. She doesn't touch him, letting him decide if he wants to touch her, his earlier accusation and anger still lingering.

He studies her face for a second before shifting his shoulder and allowing her palm to come into contact with it. A small coil of tension releases in her chest, and she shifts around and presses against his side, ducking her head under his arm so that her head is pressed into his ribcage. He stiffens, and she hears his heart rate stuttering and settling into a quick rhythm. It's a long while before his arm curls slightly, softening around her shoulders and upper back, his heart rate slowing.

Yuuki drifts off to sleep listening to his heart beat, just a hint of old, crushed and rotting flower petals brushing close to her senses.

* * *

She wakes at the loud sound of Cross' squealing. Zero is still in the same position, though he's now stiff, and Yuuki pulls up and away from him. Her neck and back are incredibly sore from the strange position, and when she scrubs her hands over her face, she can feel the remnants of tears. A glance to Zero shows a stiff expression and bags under his eyes. Ignoring Cross, who's shrieking about how 'Zero and his daughter are so close and adorable', she frowns at Zero in worry.

"Did you sleep at all, Zero? I'm sorry for falling asleep on you…" She apologizes mournfully. He studies her face for a moment before shrugging, looking a little uncomfortable but not angry.

"'S fine." He stands and stretched, rolling his shoulders and shaking out his arms. Yuuki gets to her feet quickly, and studies him for a moment. He's stretching in a way similar to martial art stretches- similar to the way that Cross had taught her to stretch.

"Zero, did you train to fight?" Yuuki asks after a second. His eyes flick to meet hers and she's given a small, reluctant nod. "Want to spar?" There's an increase in wailing from Cross, and they both give him their attention.

"-ignoring meeee!" He cries, crocodile tears falling dramatically as he collapses to his knees. Seeing their attention on him, he crawls forward to Yuuki, teary eyed and wobbly. "Yuuukkkiii!" His arms wrap around her pajama-clad legs and she hesitantly reaches down to pat his head.

"It's okay, father, I'm sorry for ignoring you," she soothes. "I just needed to talk to Zero, you know." He sniffles and his nod rubs his face against the side of her leg. Yuuki sighs in fond annoyance as she realizes that Cross mustn't have been receiving his preferred level of tactile affection lately, with the move, unpacking and taking care of Zero's nightmares and self-harming actions. Her eyes slide to Zero, who seemed to have been waiting for that and nodded his head. There's a quick spark of anticipation and happiness in Yuuki's chest at Zero's agreement and she realizes that it's also been awhile since she's trained with Cross, lately.

She's going to need to set time aside for spending time with Cross, she figures. To train and just spend time together. She feels a little knot of tension that'd been in her that she hadn't noticed loosen the longer Cross is in contact with her, as well, confirming her suspicion.

* * *

_I'm definitely going to need to set time aside more often to train,_Yuuki decides, pulling back the force of one of her kicks for the twelfth time. It isn't that Zero isn't strong, because he is, and he's also pretty fast, but Yuuki is used to fighting Cross, who's a full adult and superhuman, besides. There's a massive power difference there, and Yuuki keeps using both momentum, gravity and her entire strength in her strikes. Her first kick had shown her that doing so was a mistake, as Zero had flown backwards maybe four feet before managing to stop himself. There'd been an instant flash of regret, but then he'd come back swinging and she'd fallen back into fight mode.

She wanted to spar with Zero, not beat him to a pulp.

She's pretty sure that Zero has noticed that she's mostly favoring kicks (which is due to her arms usually being occupied with Artemis), and that she's also holding back (because after that first strike, he hasn't gone flying or skidding again). Though he hasn't really said anything or shown any sign of holding it against her. Well, other than upping his aggression level, which doesn't feel like anger- more like acknowledgement. Yuuki's face is calm, though her eyes are bright and her lips are twisted into a small grin. Zero's face is also mostly calm, though it's slightly pinched and confrontational, his lips pulled into a stern line and his eyes slightly narrowed. She'd think he was angry about how the fight is going, but with every moment, his body loses some of its tension and his movements get smoother..

Yuuki is pretty sure she's not as strong or as fast as Zero, but despite that, she's gotten more hits to connect than Zero. Mostly because her reflexes and senses are sharper, and she's used to fighting against Cross, who's much faster and stronger than them both by a large margin. She can't tell if he's used to fighting bare handed or with a weapon, but if he's half as observant as she is, he should know that she has weapons training with a staff or long weapon. Her hands keep moving as though it's in her grasp, moving in synchrony and occasionally completely out of sync with her legs or what momentum could explain.

It's after an hour that Cross interrupts them. Yuuki collapses to lay down on the grass, groaning quietly under her breath as Zero hunches over, planting his hands on his knees and inhaling deeply. She's not incredibly tired, but she doesn't really want to keep moving for a little while. Cross' disapproving face appears in her line of vision, though, so she reluctantly pulls herself into a stand and moves through her post-fight stretches and then walks in little circles, Zero joining her after a few more minutes of catching his breath. Cross goes into the house, telling them that he will be making dinner, resulting in twin grimaces, before Zero's walk moves him alongside her.

"You're good," he tells her once they've completed a few circles.

"I've been training with Cross since I was maybe nine? I'd hope I'm good! You're really good, too! I would have been creamed if I wasn't so used to Cross' speed!" She compliments. "How long have you been training?"

"... How old are you? I've been training since I was ten," he answers eventually.

"I turned twelve in December. How old are you?" Yuuki feels like these questions would have been better asked earlier in their relationship, but isn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Zero wants to talk to her, is holding a conversation for the longest time she's known him, and she won't spoil it.

"I'm turning thirteen in October, so twelve," he tells her after a little thought.

"Oh, so you're a little older than me! What day is your birthday? Mine is on the 25th."

"...The 24th." His voice is a little lower, more subdued. _Ah, did I say something wrong?_ Frowning, Yuuki thinks to herself for a little bit before changing the subject.

"Do you enjoy fighting?" She asks after awhile. "You seemed to be enjoying yourself."

"...No." The reply isn't very sure, though, the answer indefinite. Yuuki flicked her eyes over his face, looking for an explanation there, but could find nothing but a small bit of pinched confusion. As though he'd never really thought about it before.

"Hm," she hums before lifting her arms, gripping her wrists and bracing them against the back of her neck. "I think I like fighting. I haven't been in any real fights, though, so I can't say for sure. But sparring is always fun and exciting." Zero looks at her with a skeptical face.

"_You_ like fighting?"

"Hey, what's with that tone?" She exclaims indignantly before laughing. "But yeah, I'm pretty sure!" She confirms before a call from Cross has them turning and making their way into the house and to the dining area, which is directly connected to the kitchen. They both hesitate in the doorway in spotting the food on the table. It looks like a setup for curry, but the curry sauce doesn't seem quite right. Frowning as she approaches the table, Yuuki realizes that it isn't proper curry sauce, but a soup that's taking its place.

It shouldn't be _too_ bad. Giving Zero a reassuring look, she takes her seat at the table as Cross swirls up and sits down, as well.

**edit: _sorry, I didn't want to do _two _author's notes but I needed to do this one at least this time._**

**_t_****_o the guest who pointed out the repeating paragraph, thanks! I didn't realize that was there._**

**_to guest leia, thanks for mentioning the repeat paragraph and telling me there were grammar mistakes. In mobile there's no auto spell check and it's difficult to watch how I type because I do it so fast. I can't see where they might be, but that might just be because, once again, writing on this site via mobile is kind of iffy._**

**_Everyone and everything else will be addressed in the next legitimate chapter, which will be out either midday today or early tomorrow, as I'm finishing it up. It just needs some double checking, mostly._**


	7. Seventh Evening

**Sorry this is both sort of late and really short. I have excuses, though! For the lateness, I didn't actually wake up until like three hours ago. The shortness is because I thought I'd had the chapter nearly finished before I found a huge plot hole/error thing that would have made writing the next chapter spotty at best. So I'm only posting the first half of the chapter. The next half should be out either later today or sometime tomorrow.**

**_to guest leia, that hug-attack training thing you mentioned has merit, I'll give you that. I can't really say whether I'll use it, but the idea isn't half bad and does sort of fall in line with Yuuki's personality. And, canonically Zero has at least some cooking ability, which he had to have gotten somewhere. I'm planning to use that as a bonding experience between he and Yuuki, and to remedy Yuuki's current inability to cook. Your assessment of her personality is pretty spot on, though._**

**_About those errors and paragraph concerns? I'm trying. This is mostly the way I've been taught and when I type on my phone, I sort of rely on the little red line for errors in the moment. And besides that, I'm personally prone to run-on sentences. I do my best to write concisely, and I struggle sometimes._** **_And besides that, at least half of my editing for this site relies on what I hear when I listen to them via the audio play over._**

**_to the guest who mentioned Zero and Coexistence and Vampires all in the same review, there's a hint of my plan about that near the end of this chapter! I hope you catch it. It doesn't come from Yuuki, I can tell you that much._**

**_pendora59, thanks! I had to use google translate to understand your reviews since I flunked out of french, but it was nice to have my efforts rewarded with your nice words!_**

**I hope to hear from you all again! Reviews are really encouraging, and so I want many of them! Even if you're only reviewing to point out an error I've made in one of my chapters! Don't forget to favorite and follow!**

* * *

"Family meeting!" Cross calls, entering the living room. Zero looks up from his math workbook before looking back down, shifting his legs slightly from where they're curled close to his chest. Yuuki trots into the room with the cup of cocoa and her own math book, having been getting the cocoa to drink while she did her own homework with Zero.

"Meeting…?" Yuuki murmurs, walking ahead and setting her mug and book onto the coffee table.

"As you both know, I'm the chairman here. I've decided to found the 'Night Class' here, starting next year!" He says importantly, one finger lifted to point upwards.

"Night class?" Yuuki parrots with uncertainty. "You mean, like a night school for advanced or behind students?" She'd heard of something similar from overhearing students gossiping during classes, but she hadn't expected anything like that to come into effect in Cross Academy.

"No, no!" Cross tuts, wagging a finger at her. ""Night Class" is "Night Class"!" Yuuki tilts her head in confusion at his non-answer, shifting on her feet and giving Cross her full attention. Seeing that, he continues, "we'll probably say the building of the Night School is for advanced people, but it won't be for advanced people nor will it be a university."

"Then… what's the point of a night class?"

"Studying through the night, of course! We'll be making them do really advanced things, so there won't be any age limit, but that won't be the true purpose of the night class." Yuuki and Zero both twitch as a presence enters the room, familiar to one and unsettling to another. The hairs on the back of Zero's neck stand on end as Yuuki turns to look at the doorway as a figure comes into view.

"The night class will exist for the purpose of "peaceful coexistence of vampire and humans", and educating young vampires to be… "moderate"." Kaname seems to have gotten even taller, and Yuuki feels the familiar pout brewing just beneath the surface but moves past that, voicing her confusion just as Cross acknowledges him.

"Kaname-kun, you've come."

"Kaname-nii?" Off to Yuuki's left, Zero pushes into a stand and shifts his weight to stand directly next to Yuuki, his eyes wide and slightly glazed. There's a heavy feeling in the air coming from Kaname, and Yuuki isn't quite sure what to think of it, but as it grows, she can smell his scent moving as though he's circling the area physically. Flowers long since bloomed and beginning to wilt, the faint scent of blood, and a little bit of ozone. There's also the scent she cannot explain that is simply Kaname.

"I just came in," he responds to Cross before his gaze turns in her direction, and subsequently Zeros as well. "Good evening, Yuuki."

"Ah, good evening…" Yuuki jolts slightly at the acknowledgement but then trails off.

"...Kaname Kuran," Zero murmurs in a blank voice that Yuuki hasn't heard from him in over a month. Her eyes drift over to give him a concerned look, but she's ignored as Zero's eyes lurch into life and he spins on heel, rushing into Cross, grabbing onto the front of his shirt. "This is ridiculous! It's impossible that the vampires will really want to live together with humans! You know how many of them have attacked people, how many bloody events have been covered up!"

"I want to end things like that. Because I lost someone, too, Kiryuu-kun."

"Just because of that, you have the right to allow the beasts free among a flock of sheep?!" Zero demands, seeming angrily frantic.

"Cross… you've already decided, haven't you?" Yuuki asks as Kaname walks to stand closer. Contrarily, the closer he moves, the lighter his scent and the lighter the pressure. Zero releases Cross, taking a step away, his face darkening into a chilling deadpan.

"You have nothing to worry about, either of you," Cross tells them seriously. "He… Kuran-kun will be in the Night Class. With him there, the other vampires will be obedient. And, thanks to him, many have agreed to come and attend." Yuuki glances upwards to see Kaname's calm visage, and can't help the small feeling in her chest about him having to stand alone against an unknown number of vampires. It hurts, just a little, to think of him possibly spreading himself too thin because of Cross' dream. She keeps quiet, though. Kaname has agreed, and it isn't like she controls his actions. Saying anything wouldn't do anything but make him placate her, which would make her feel better but defeat the purpose of telling him that she is worried for him.

"But if he betrays your ideal, that's the end," Zero reminds Cross in a growl, glaring into Cross' eyes for a moment. Not seeing any caution or acknowledgment of the danger, Zero's face darkens further and he spins on heel, storming away and out of the room. Yuuki glances between the two remaining males in the room before speaking.

"I'll go after him," she says quietly before trotting out of the room, closing the door behind her. She doesn't get far, though, as Zero had stopped just to the side of the doors. He grabs her quickly, pressing a palm to her mouth and gesturing for her to listen. After a slight hesitation, she does so.

"I'm really happy that you've agreed to my pacifism," Cross says, his voice distorted to the two listeners.

"Yes…" Kaname murmurs, reaching down to pick up the workbook that Yuuki had abandoned on the coffee table, then flipping through it. There's math, and then there's small notes for other things, like words she intended to look up, or small drawings on the borders of pages or encircling certain questions. "I really do wish it'd come true. Besides that, I'm under restriction, now. I need someone who can be my free body, or a less monitored place to stay. There's one thing I'm worried about, but… there's no need for you to worry." Kaname's presence gets heavy once more, the door between he and the two eavesdroppers doing little to lessen its effects.

"I'll play the role of "queen bee" for sure."

Sensing the imminent end of the conversation, Yuuki begins to bodily press Zero down the hallway, back toward their rooms. Once they're a sufficient distance that they won't be casually overheard, Zero removes his hand from over her mouth. Yuuki waits until they're in Zero's room before asking the question that had been plaguing her for awhile. She'd previously been almost afraid to ask.

"Zero, do you really see all vampires as irredeemable beasts?"

"They crave blood, and will do whatever they feel necessary to get it. They're beasts. Monsters in human guise," he tells her matter-of-factly.

"Even vampires in control of themselves? Or who would never attack a person?" She presses, before a thought occurs to her. "Have you met many vampires? How can you be so certain of their nature?"

"It's been proven. If any vampire can control themselves, why has coexistence never been successful? Why is there a vampire hunter association?"

"That's for the vampires that have gone mad, though. That's not all vampires," she argues before an idea starts to bloom in her mind. "If it was proven that vampires can control themselves, would you stop seeing the many as the few?" There's a reckless sort of determination swelling up in her chest, almost choking in its intensity.

_"Listen to me!"_ The mostly ignored whisper in her head insists. Yuuki has a feeling its meant to be addressed to Zero and doesn't even twitch. The whispering isn't common, exactly, but she's past the point of being twitchy about it.

"And how would you do that?" Zero asks warily. Yuuki's face drops into a moue of thought, her plan spinning, unfurling to possible consequences, good and bad.

"If I went to the vampires that Kaname-nii will bring with a kind of wound, and they did not attack, would you acknowledge that not all vampires are beasts who live only for blood?"

_"No way!"_ Zero snaps, face twisting angrily, warring between incomprehension and anger. "That idea is completely stupid and dangerous! No way will I agree to anything like that! What if you get killed, huh?!" He demands, looking increasingly sick and pained.

"It wouldn't be that big of a wound," Yuuki persists. "I would have Artemis with me, and I'm sure Kaname-nii would not leave me alone for very long, besides!"

"No! You're crazy!" Zero refuses. "If I catch you trying to do something like that, I'll tell both the Chairman and your precious "Kaname-nii"!" He looks a little green at adding the suffix to Kaname's name, and Yuuki would be amused if she wasn't so indignant_. He's threatening to tattle __on me?_ She thinks in disbelief before huffing a little and swirling out of the room, making her way back to where Cross and Kaname should still be, hoping that Kaname hadn't already left.


	8. Eighth Evening

**Do you think I should combine this chapter with the previous to make it the whole chapter, or simply leave it in two seperate chunks?**** And about the quotes I initially started chapters with? I haven't really been able to find any that I like. There are a few, but they're for way later and using them at the inopportune moment would be terrible.** **Also, as I was writing this chapter, I came across bits of canon that I'd accidentally quoted with Zero in scenes that I hadn't quoted. Which was really funny to see because- _Wow, my characterization was so good I accidentally quoted Zero? Cool!_**

**There's going to be at least one filler chapter between this one and the start of the official plot. I can tell you that it's probably going to focus on Zero and Yuuki (because she tends to stick her oar in things regardless of anyone elses thoughts on the matter).**

**_V_****_alen Goncalvez, I see your reviews? I just absolutely do not understand them?_**

**_To everyone who's been complimenting my story, I'm not ignoring you! I just... Don't really know how to respond? And responding to each individual review that say similar things seems a little dumb. But I see you, and I really appreciate your well wishes and compliments! Thanks for the reviews and support!_**

* * *

It's a year before the vampires begin to move into the faculty building, which would be their temporary dorm until their official dorm would be finished. Yuuki hadn't actually known that they'd moved in until she spotted lights on inside the previously empty building as she and Zero made their way home after classes.

"That's… I thought nobody was using that building?" She calls for Zero's attention, pausing in her walk.

"That's being used as a temporary dormitory. The vampires are there, either taking an entrance exam or making some type of oath," Zero explains. He makes his way in Yuuki's direction, grabbing onto the back of her collar. "Stay away from their lair, Yuuki."

She doesn't bother lifting her feet as he begins to drag her off, her heels dragging over the ground.

_"Nii-sama is…"_ The familiar whisper trails into longing silence, and Yuuki can't lift her eyes from the building.

* * *

Making her way to the doors of the temporary dormitory, Yuuki keeps one hand on her upper left bicep, where an injury from an earlier spar lurks, only now beginning to scab over. Artemis is tucked against her hip beneath her turtleneck, and her legs are covered by a pair of slacks. Her feet are bare, but she doesn't really bother about that. She barely rests a hand on the door before it is suddenly pulled out of her hands, resulting in a strangled squeak wrenching itself out of her mouth.

There's a boy on the other side, with blond hair in a similar style to Kaname and friendly green eyes. He's dressed casually, holding dozens of paper clipped files in one arm and smiling in a somewhat bemused way.

"Oh, it's Yuuki-chan. You've come to see Kaname?" He asks as soon as his eyes meet her own. "I'm sorry, Kaname's out right now," he apologizes before continuing, "He probably won't be out late, and he doesn't disappear often, if you were worried-"

"Um, you know my name?" Yuuki interrupts in a calculated risk. "Who are you?" She's fairly sure that she's never seen this boy before, and him knowing her face well enough to recognize her instantly, on sight and by name, is a little unsettling.

"Uh-huh. I'm Ichijou Takuma! I've lived with Kaname for awhile, and usually was dragged along when he went to your house. I was always spying from the car, and usually saw you clinging onto Kaname."

She kind of wants to be annoyed at how easily he admits to spying on her and Kaname, but she's also still reeling from the sheer level of friendliness he's exuding. Suddenly, his face becomes exaggeratedly stern.

"Okay, Yuuki-chan. Kaname isn't here, so you go back home and go to bed! Even though this is technically school grounds, you can't just walk around at night!" He reprimands before closing the door in her face. Yuuki stares for a minute before glancing back in the direction of home, then steeling herself. Entering the building, she's immediately struck by how cold the building is.

_Don't they have heating? There's lights on, so why is it so cold?_ There's nowhere to sit, as the bottom floor is a small area mostly for the bottom of the staircase, the stairs leading up into a more open common area. Not really feeling up to risking the upper floor and it's open area, Yuuki sits down sideways on a step near the bottom of the stairs. Her back presses against the wall, and she tucks one knee close to her chest, the other leg stretched out straight ahead of her.

It's less that a minute later that a door opens somewhere nearby upstairs, and several pairs of feet make their way in the direction of the stairs. Shortly after, an abnormally attractive group enters her field of vision, comprised of three girls and two boys. The second tallest, blond with bright blue eyes, is complaining loudly.

"What the heck is this?! A one-thousand question test?! Chairman Cross must be really evil, telling us we have to do all of this tonight!"

"You're taking it too seriously. I'm just taking it easy," the taller boy groans, one hand bracing against the back of his head. He has brownish-orange hair that's in a short, wild style. "Calm down." Yuuki can't help the small snicker that slips out as she watches the group pass the stairs. The blond boy really does seem to be taking the test too seriously, his voice irritatedly panicked.

As soon as the noise escapes her, she regrets not being able to stop it, as four of the five freeze in place, eyes locking onto her with intense focus. The girl in the lead continues walking without the others. Yuuki shifts a little, unsure on what you're supposed to do when someone catches you laughing at them. The boy who had been complaining earlier pinks a little before looking away, and the tallest girl, with pale brown hair and brown eyes. mumbles something before addressing her as she begins to walk with the rest of the group.

"Hey, don't cause any trouble for us before we even start school, okay? I don't want you ruining my school life with Kaname-sama."

And then they're out of sight, and their voices fade as they begin to talk amongst themselves again. Yuuki shifts slightly, tucking both of her legs close to herself and thinking over what the girl had said. She's not entirely sure why Kaname had been mentioned, but she figures it might be because the girl likes him. She reaches up to twist some of her hair in her fingers as her arm throbs slightly.

She feels vaguely smug that her admittedly stupid plan has worked out so well. A fresh-ish wound, some vampires, and no Kaname present to stare them into submission. She had not been attacked or confronted about it, and she'd seen no open signs of vampirism as she knows them.

It's about time she should head back home, as her task has been accomplished, but she wants to wait for either Kaname or Zero. Zero usually wakes up at some point through the night and checks on her, and Takuma had mentioned that Kaname wouldn't be out too late.

If Zero collected her, then it would be proof enough that the vampires in the Night Class, at the very least, were not purely beasts. If Kaname collected her, then… Well, she'd see Kaname. She'd been wanting to see Kaname for the past few days with increasing intensity, after all. Idly braiding the hair in her grasp, she glances up to the clock across the small room.

10:03 at night.

* * *

She's unsure when she'd fallen asleep, but Yuuki is instantly awake and aware when someone she doesn't know approaches her prone form. She very carefully doesn't show that she's woken up, but her heart rate jumps a little with her sharp spike of panic before it settles back down as a voice enters her ears.

"Maybe you don't know the rules of the Night Class just yet, but…" Kaname's voice carries a note of warning as it trails off.

"Sorry, I just remembered… My test is still unfinished. I'll go back to my room." The unfamiliar vampire climbs over her, then makes his way up the stairs. She can hear Kaname approaching her laying form, and as the footsteps fade, there's a rustle of cloth. Kaname sighs a little in tired worry as he kneels down.

"You're being careless, Yuuki," he murmurs as he drops his coat over her. He rests a hand on her shoulder and Yuuki wants to shift as a bolt of nervous confusion strikes along her spine with icy fingers. His hand brushes against her chin and jaw, sliding aside the small braids she'd done in her hair. A moment after, her neck feels warm and damp.

In an instant, Yuuki's focus is pinpointed there. She feels a mix of emotions she can't even begin to decipher, at least half of them animalistic instincts she hadn't known she'd had, and her thoughts grind to a halt. But then the sensation vanishes, and Kaname lifts her into a princess carry. It's an unfamiliar hold, and her emotions and senses are still on overdrive, so it's a struggle, but she manages to remain limp in his grasp, limbs dangling uselessly.

"What a cruel girl you are," is Kaname's quiet whisper, almost too low for her to hear, as he makes his way up the stairs. But she's in his arms, near his mouth, and she hears them just fine. As her hyper awareness lessens and her mind begins to work effectively again, she finds her thoughts drifting into a muzzy, sleepy haze once more. Despite the animalistic unease that had welled up in her when he'd gotten close to her neck, she still feels safe with Kaname.

She wakes for the second time of her own accord, in a plush bed set in the center of an elaborate bedroom. It smells overwhelmingly like Kaname, so she knows whose bedroom she is in, at the very least. Kaname's bedroom. As she sits up, the coat that had been covering her falls, and she blinks at it blearily for a time, trying to get her thoughts into proper order. The coat is almost longer than she is tall, and thus had made a good blanket for her unconscious form, but now that she's awake, she isn't sure what to do with it.

Deciding to simply leave it at the end of the bed, she pushes it there and then stands.

Once she's free of the bed and it's curtains, the bubble of Kaname's scent vanishes and she's hit with the overpowering scent of blood coming from a partially opened door on the right side of the room.

_"He's…"_ A soft, hesitant voice trails into silence as Yuuki cautiously approaches the door, her unease and curiosity driving her forward, despite instinctually not wanting to go anywhere near it. It might be because of the smell of the blood she can smell, or it might be because of the terrible feeling in her chest, but she's moved by a morbid curiosity unlike anything she can remember feeling in recent memory.

She's a few steps away from the door when she hears a feminine voice moaning out something that sounds like the beginnings of Kaname's name, and the feeling in her chest blooms into something vicious, locking her in place. An unfamiliar voice in her head speaks with final certainty.

_"Don't go there. Leave."_ Yuuki almost wants to ignore the words from the figure of glass in her dreams, almost wants to fight past the brambles of emotions locking her in place a foot or so from her goal. But then there's a second, choked off sound, and the scent of blood increases, and she can hear a masculine voice speak.

She slips out of the room as quickly and quietly as she is able. In the hallway outside of Kaname's room, just a little to the right, there's the tallest boy from before. He's leaning against the wall, his eyes trained on the wall where she is sure that those sounds and that scent had been coming from. She gives him a small bow of her head in acknowledgement as she passes him, feeling incredibly shaky from the onslaught of emotion in the room, and makes her way down the hall quickly.

Unseen to her, the boy's orange-amber eyes remain on her back until she turns out of the hallway sightline to make her way across the open area toward the stairs.

Zero is just approaching the dormitory doors when she slips out of them. He looks concerned and slightly confused at finding her already leaving, but not altogether unsurprised.

"Ah, Zero." Yuuki casts her eyes to the sky, which is pitch dark by now, and then looks down at her hands, which shake ever so slightly.

"I came to find you… Did something happen?" He asks, his gaze intent on her face. She quietly shakes her head, because nothing had really happened, she's just… Unsteady after that sudden onslaught of emotions from before, which had been the more intense and long-lasting emotions she can ever remember feeling.

"Hey, what's the big deal?" A masculine voice calls down from a window two floors up, making both children jerk their heads to see them. There's a boy and a girl sitting in the open window, looking down at them with looks of mixed irritation and curiosity. "Aren't you humans supposed to be asleep right now?"

"Vampires," Zero glares before switching his gaze onto her, then grabbing onto her hand. "Come on, lets get home quickly. You're going to explain this whole mess to Cross, because he knows you were gone. I'd want to tell Kuran about this, as well, but I have the feeling he already knows." He grumbles, pulling her along.

"Ah…" She isn't completely sure what she'd intended to say, but all that comes out is that small, acknowledging noise.

"You're alright," Zero tells her eventually, pausing in his walk and looking at her over his shoulder. "Stop shaking, you're fine."

"I know…" She inhales deeply and looks down to her hands, one in Zero's grasp, and tries to calm down. "Sorry… I can't seem to stop."

"...Stupid," Zero scoffs and starts walking again. His hand squeezes hers, though, so she takes comfort in his grasp on her rather than feel cowed by his attitude. Beyond her control, she turns and looks back at the dorms. There are several vampire watching their retreat, but her focus drifts to the window she suspects is connected to Kaname's room. She can't see anything from her current distance, but there's a pervading sense of being watched settling over her skin.


	9. Ninth Evening

**And here's the completely original chapter. I've realized I said that I would have cooking be a bonding experience and then failed to deliver so I'm dropping it in here! If it feels a little jumbled, it's because I hadn't been planning to add that at all**. **Initially this was only going to be Zero getting the Bloody Rose, but I got carried away. Next chapter will be either the start of the manga or one more filler that will be something school related, because I've been glossing over that.**

**That said, this is probably the longest chapter so far.**

**_To the guest who mentioned Yuuki not standing for injustice or cruelty, you are absolutely correct! But the trouble with that is that Yuuki is a socially isolated girl and also painfully emotionally oblivious. Just because it upsets her or infuriates her doesn't mean she's going to know how to stop something or speak up._**

**_To the others who complimented my work so far? Thanks! Makes me really happy!_**

* * *

"Zero? What's that?" Yuuki orbits the boy as he fiddles with the package Cross had given him maybe an hour ago. Flicking his eyes to her, he pulls it into clear view. "A _gun_?"

It's a little big for his hands, as while he'd been shooting up in height ever since he'd turned fourteen, he still wasn't yet completely adult sized. Based on his growth, she figures that he'll be an appropriate size for the gun by about next year. Pointedly not thinking about how little she's grown since she turned thirteen, she studies the gun. It has a wood sided grip, and is otherwise made of a silvery metal. The sides of the barrel are etched with the words "Crossing" and "Bloody Rose", along the top are the words "Crossing Danger".

"It's an anti-vampire weapon," he tells her after she spends a time studying it. "Cross said it's called Bloody Rose." Yuuki kind of wants to compliment the gun, because it's really a nice looking gun, but she isn't sure how to do that. It seems strange to compliment someone for their weapon. Then a thought occurs to her.

"Wait, do you even know how to use a gun?" She blinks. She has a vague idea of how to use a gun, though she isn't sure how, as she's never had first hand exposure to guns, but she's not sure if Zero has even that much. Yuuki really hopes he does, or else she would have to worry about Cross' level of responsibility. She'd been giving him plenty of hugs and spending plenty of time with him, so he shouldn't be being _too_ erratic.

"I know the basics," Zero confirms. "Now I just need to practice."

"Oh, good." There's a noise off to the side, and Yuuki glances up at the doorway to Zero's room, where they're hanging out, and sees Cross there, half crumpled to the floor.

"My children are bonding!" Is his fervent whispering, slightly high pitched and sounding entirely too ecstatic for her comfort. Zero twitches, and Yuuki jerks a little in place as his hand flies out and he shoots at Cross. The guns barrel glows a livid purple, a vaguely familiar sigil appearing out of light just before something shoots out of the barrel. It misses Cross by a large margin, and the sigil blooms for a second time where the bullet has hit the wall before disappearing, leaving nothing behind to show that Zero had fired the gun at all. Yuuki stares at the spot for a moment before her eyes move back to look at Zero, who had gone tumbling backwards and landed on the floor due to the recoil of the gun.

Yuuki snorts as Cross, who had gone still at the shot, begins to wail and lecture Zero about gun safety and "reasonable use of force". Before long, Yuuki is falling to the ground as well, Zero's surprised face as he'd laid on the floor etching itself into her memory as she breaks into peals of cackling laughter. Zero tries to kick her, but she rolls to avoid it, still uncontrollably laughing, but shrieks as he abandons the gun on the ground to try and tackle her, red faced and indignant.

Cross dives out of the way as they streak past him, hearing Yuuki's shrieking laughter and Zero's dire threats as he stares after them with a soft smile. His eyes land on Bloody Rose, abandoned on the floor, and the smile disappears, replaced with a look of worry and sadness.

There's a crash somewhere in the house, the sound of shattering glass and Yuuki's yelled apology. Cross twirls in place and hurries to the sound, hoping that nobody had been hurt and forgetting all about the weapon.

* * *

"Yuuki, if you touch that, you'll be dealing with the consequences," Zero intones without looking away from his task. Yuuki freezes where she'd been reaching for the salt to add to the soup, her eyes wide as they move to Zero. He's cutting up strips of meat right now, something he'd forbidden her from doing because she cut them too small, and her job had been to watch the soup pot and taste test it on occasion.

Last time she'd tried to do anything more complicated, she'd started no less than three fires, two of which had started while she'd been supervised.

"How did you know I was doing anything?" She pouts at him, sidling away from the pot to look at what he's doing. The meat in his hands is tinting his pale skin red with the leftover amounts of blood, and his hands are also covered in the seasoning he'd pressed into the meat. Yuuki half expects to smell the blood from the still raw cuts, but can smell nothing but meat and spice, as well as the simmering stew pot behind them. The scissors in his hand cut through the meat and separate each inch-thick slice into cubes.

"You're _always_ doing something when you go behind me and go quiet," he tells her blandly before glancing at her, lilac eyes stern. "Watch the pot." She pouts further but obligingly turns back to the pot.

"Are we even doing this right?" She complains, watching the pot as though it will combust and her gaze on it is all that's stopping it from doing so. Which might be possible, as it wouldn't be the first time, but she doubts will happen. The soup broth and veggies inside are only barely bubbling from the heat, as they can't let it get too hot without adding in the meat, and Zero had been the one to turn on the oven in the first place. It's only on the fourth out of eight settings, two of which are High and Low. She can understand why it's only on medium heat now, but when the meat is added, she's sure that Zero will turn the heat up. Or let her do it, but she doubts that as well.

"Hey, move," Zero instructs from behind her. She steps to the side as Zero moves past her holding the cutting tray, which is topped with the cubes of beef. He slides them into the pot carefully so it won't splash, and then taps the board against the side of the pot so its accumulated liquid will fall into it as well, rather than collect on the board. Yuuki watches with rapt attention as he hands her the board to set aside before stirring the pot and turning the heat up to five.

"Why not high? Or six?" She pesters. Zero frowns a little at her before pushing against the top of her head to move her away, his palm against her forehead and his fingers wrapping around the crown of her skull. She goes without resistance but keeps her eyes on him.

"Well for one, the recipe said five. And two, last time we put a pot on high_, it caught on fire."_

"But if it was on high, I bet it'd cook faster," she wheedles, not bothering to address the comment about the fire. That had absolutely not been her fault and she would deny any responsibility for it until the day she died. How had she been meant to know what you didn't drop frozen chicken into boiling oil? _She_ hadn't- she'd been left unsupervised with boiling oil and it wasn't her fault that nobody had thought that was a bad idea. She'd protested! But no- _"Yuuki, just add the chicken when the oil heats up, it isn't that hard."_

Zero sighs, as though she's being incredibly tiring, and herds her away from the pot toward the sink, where she's supposed to put the cutting board. Giving in, she drops the board into the sink and turns on the water to rinse it off, glancing at Zero from the corner of her eye as he picks through the spice rack, occasionally glancing at the recipe paper on the counter.

"What about garlic salt?" She offers. It's her favorite kind of salt, and he'd already vetoed normal salt so far. She's given a deeply suspicious look the second she moves away from the sink, and a warning glare, so she returns to cleaning off the cutting board, not really paying it any attention.

"The beef stock already had salt, and the beef had season salt on it. We are not adding more salt," he denies flatly.

"... What about soy sauce?" She suggests after a second of thought. His look turns into a blank stare that tells her he is becoming progressively less amused and tolerant of her suggestions.

_"That's even more salty!" _He refuses. She huffs a little, releasing the cutting board to cross her arms over her chest.

"Fine. I'll just add it to my own bowl when it's finished," She grumbles, puffing out a cheek and turning her face away. She's treated to an incredulous stare but when she stops, Zero returns his attention to the spices. Trying to decide if it's worth the risk, she mumbles some random noises of discontent before speaking louder. "I'm getting something to drink. Want something?"

"Water," is his short answer as he swipes the recipe paper and squints at it dubiously. She hums obligingly and goes to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water and a bottle of apple juice. She quickly swipes the soy sauce and tucks it in a reverse-knife grip to hid it, holding tightly so the bottle won't slide free. She hands Zero his bottle of water and he opens it without looking, lifting it to his lips then draining the entire bottle in one go in maybe ten seconds. Frozen in place as the bottle crunches and Zero throws it to the back of the counter, Yuuki only stares before asking hesitantly.

"Do… Do you want a second bottle?" Zero pauses in where he'd been reaching for a season shaker, staring blankly for a moment before giving her an indecipherable look.

"Yeah." The second bottle, he pays attention to as he drinks. It's still gone in less than thirty seconds, and his face as the bottle crunches hollowly in his grip is one that Yuuki can recognize. Worry and slight fear. But then the expression is wiped away and he's grabbing both empty bottles and making his way toward the trash can. Shaking off her own worry, Yuuki deposits the apple juice to the side and lets the soy sauce fall into her palm at the correct angle as she lunges toward the soup pot, which as slight foam building on the top.

The cap is off the bottle and she's just tipping it over the soup when a hand enters her field of vision, yanking the bottle from her grasp. A small bit of the dark liquid splashes into the soup, but not nearly as much as Yuuki'd intended to add. Her collar is seized next, and Zero bodily moves her away from the pot with a stern and irritated expression on his face. She smiles up at him hesitantly before lifting up the cap in her hand as a peace offering. His face darkens and he releases her collar before grabbing the cap.

As soon as the bottle is closed, she is pushed in the direction of the kitchen island. It isn't quite a gentle push, but it isn't incredibly rough.

"Sit down and stop trying to make everyone else sick from too much salt," he commands before walking to deposit the soy sauce into the fridge once more. She has a single second of temptation, as the spice rack is almost exactly ahead of her and she can see the garlic salt, but she resists and then Zero is in front of it once more after stirring the soup a little.

He goes completely still eventually, and she watches his shoulders tense up and then go slack with something like defeat as he sighs.

"Yuuki." She's up immediately and peering at the recipe as she shoves her head through the gap between his torso and elbow. "Go and get the little measuring cups." He covers the recipe before she can get to the part he is on, but she doesn't make too much of a stink about it, because he's allowing her to help again.

She gets the cups from the utensil drawer and returns. She wants to feel starry eyed as she sees the garlic salt on the counter, the top already popped.

"Half a teaspoon," he tells her sternly.

"Everything's better with salt," she whisper cackles as she pours the required amount of salt into the measuring cup then dumps it into the soup. She gives it a vigorous stir immediately after and yelps as the hot broth splashes her forearm a little.

"Stupid, get away from the heat sources!" Zero snaps, grabbing her collar again and yanking her away from causing a potentially even bigger mess or getting hurt even further. She makes a pitiful sad-puppy noise as she is forcibly sat in a chair and Zero checks her arm. He scoffs at her, but seems less annoyed and more fond as he inspects the limb.

"You're fine, there isn't even a mark," he tells her firmly before returning to the stove, cleaning up the spilled soup and then giving it a more sedate stir. Yuuki inspects her arm curiously, as it had really felt like she would have gotten a welt at the very least, but there really is no mark. It's barely pink in the area where she'd felt herself get splashed. _Maybe my pain tolerance is weak for heat?_

It's three hours before the soup is finished and they're calling Cross to the dining room. Zero carries the pot to the table, keeping a careful eye on everything but Yuuki in particular, as she had continued to try to either steal soup or add salt to it. Yuuki, herself, is holding onto the heated bread roll and bottle of soy sauce, being mostly behind Zero.

"We've taste tested it and it's fine-" Zero explains as they all sit down and begin to serve themselves soup and bread.

"Just a little bland," Yuuki coughs. Zero lashes into her ribs with an elbow and she squeaks in mixed pain and surprise.

"You can use the soy sauce in your own bowl, stop complaining," he snaps. She makes sad noises at him and he rolls his eyes, ladling himself some soup then landing it to her. She carefully fills her bowl halfway then puts it down, settling back in her seat. It's under Zero's mildly disgusted gaze and Cross' flabbergasted gaze that she promptly pours about a mouthful of soy sauce into her bowl of soup, stirring it slightly before tasting it. Zero snatches the bottle away from her immediately after it's left her grip, hiding it.

"This is more like it," she says happily before noticing Cross' now slightly horrified gaze. "Want to try some?" She offers, lifting her bowl slightly with careful hands and offering it in Cross' direction. Zero shakes his head quickly, trying to intercept her.

"Don't do it," he warns quickly. Cross reaches out and takes a spoonful though, and while he is hesitant, he places it in his mouth. His reaction is immediate and over-dramatic, gasping as soon as the soup is in his mouth completely. Some of it drips out of his mouth but the rest slides down his throat. He makes a strangled noise and grabs a glass of water, guzzling it down with a garbled shriek. Zero sighs and Yuuki crinkles her nose in distaste and disgust at both the messy eating and his dramatics.

"It isn't that bad," she complains, taking another spoonful into her mouth thoughtfully. She might have slightly overdone it with the soy sauce, but now she knows to use a little less next time. It isn't at all as salty as Cross is making it seem.

"It's terrible," Zero denies as Cross rushes to the sink for more water, his tongue hanging out of his mouth and tears streaming down his face. "You just have freaky taste buds." Yuuki grumbles in discontent as Cross returns to the table, giving her an outrageously betrayed look.

"How could you like something so _salty_?!" He demands. "It's so salty it's painful! _Yuuukkkiii!"_ He takes in a horrified breath as he watches her take another spoonful. She stops and pouts at him.

"It isn't _that_ bad." She promptly turns her attention to her food, refusing to respond to Zero's grumbling about how she's going to get a heart disease and Cross' wailing about how his "sweet and innocent daughter could like something so awful".

* * *

Dodging yet another purple streak of concussive force, Yuuki yelps. Artemis spins in her hands, now only slightly taller than her, and strikes against Zero's hand around the grip of Bloody Rose. It strikes his fingers the hardest, and he yelps, the gun dropping from momentarily paralyzed fingers before he catches it with his non-dominant hand, fumbling it slightly. Luckily it doesn't go off with his catch, like it had done once before, and after shaking out his fingers, he places it back into his correct hand.

"I still say this is unfair!" Yuuki complains loudly. Zero rolls his eyes at her.

"You offered," he reminds, "and it isn't like you'll really get hurt. The most it's done is blow you off your feet." She huffs at him as she uses Artemis as leverage to push herself straight into the air, going momentarily vertically upside down.

She swings her center of mass, Artemis sweeping off the ground just as Zero is preparing to kick it, and her body plummets downwards with as much force as she can create, her heels aiming for his chest. Recognizing the tactic but not able to get out of the way in time, Zero braces for impact. The drop kick connects, and Bloody Rose flies out of his grip as he flies backwards. Yuuki manages to contort her body around so that she lands on the ground in a crouch, but Artemis connects with the ground preemptively at an odd angle, causing the rod to jerk out of her grasp.

"You can't hit a stationary target yet, though! And I assumed we'd be fighting without weapons!" Honestly, the only reason she has Artemis with her is because she's taken to carrying it with her all the time now that the vampires have permanently moved onto campus. It isn't that she doesn't trust them, but there's a sense of unease, nonetheless. Beyond her control, she's waiting for the other shoe to drop with the vampires. She hates feeling like this, but she can't help her animal instincts, and it isn't like Zero isn't feeling it, too.

She also hates that. That Zero is so distrustful and angry about all vampires just because some bad vampires killed his family and attacked him. She can understand his feelings, mostly, but she doesn't like them. They're coloring so much of his world view. But ever since that ill-advised late night trip to the temporary dorms a month back, he's been less twitchy and furious. She can tell he still doesn't like that they're so close, or that they exist, really, but he's less paranoid and prepared to decry them of their bestiality.

"This is the best option," Zero refuses. A crawling feeling spreads along Yuuki's spine and she jerks slightly as she straightens into a stand, her attention diverting to the trees around the small back yard of the house where they'd taken to training. She can't see anything, and as far as she knows, neither of them have drawn blood so she doesn't think they've attracted any enterprising vampires, but the feeling persists. There's a metallic click and she turns immediately, seeing Bloody Rose being pointed at her stomach from less than two feet away, Zero's eyes narrowed slightly into a playful glare as he kneels next to where he'd picked the weapon up.

She has barely a second to shift her weight before it fires, and the force slams into her. She flies backwards a few feet, tumbling head over heels the moment her center of mass shifts due to the force. When she lands, Artemis is collapsed next to her and she's absolutely covered in dirt and minor scrapes, Zero standing where he'd been before.

There's a crunch of leaves, and both of them turn their attention to the figure emerging from the trees, Zero stiffening immediately and Yuuki going still. It's Kaname, one pale hand reaching down. Instead of grabbing her or helping her up, his hand wraps around the metal of Artemis, the metal sparking immediately. From how close she is, Yuuki can see his skin flaking away under it's onslaught, can smell his skin searing. A hint of _déjà vu_ strikes her, though, as she stares at the rod along with Kaname. The feeling disappears as Kaname offers her a hand, his other hand still occupied with holding Artemis as the rod makes its displeasure known.

She lets him help her up, feeling vaguely unsettled for reasons she isn't willing to dwell on, and then he presses Artemis into her hands. It continues to spark for a moment longer, though it does not hurt, before stopping as Kaname takes a step away.

"Kuran, what are you doing here?" Zero asks after a moment, walking to stand closer to Yuuki. His voice is cold, but no longer does it hold that furious edge to it that it had used to hold. More dislike and wariness. For a moment, Yuuki contemplates the idea that they've gotten together to talk things out without telling her before dismissing it. Zero's never too far lately, watching her like a hawk in case she does something dumb again, and he doesn't trust Kaname nearly enough to be alone with him.

"I heard the gunfire from the dorms, and thought to investigate," Kaname tells them. Yuuki looks around, feeling a second set of eyes focusing on the clearing, even if not her exactly, but doesn't call them out.

"We were just training with Zero's new weapon," Yuuki decides to answer, pushing aside her unease to smile at Kaname and regain the bounciness she hasn't showcased in awhile, studying him carefully through the crescents of her eyes. Kaname looks impeccably dressed, like always, but his hair seems messier than it used to be, his eyes darker and skin slightly paler. "It's an anti-vampire weapon and doesn't actually fire bullets!" She explains, grasping onto Zero's arm and lifting it with Bloody Rose still in his hand, pointing the gun into the sky with the pretense of showing off the weapon. Mainly she's trying to make sure he isn't going to randomly open fire on Kaname, as Zero gets sort of trigger happy when he holds the gun.

Cross has already been shot at nine times, and she's been actually shot twice. Both times she'd been trying to tackle-hug him like she does with Cross sometimes, and she'd ended up denting the walls with the force.

"I see," Kaname says, studying the weapon in Zero's grasp before looking at her own weapon. "And you were training with Artemis?"

"Yep!" She confirms with an exuberant nod. "Can never train too much!"

"I suppose you're right." Kaname smiles at her before casting a glance up. "I have to get back now, classes start in an hour, and I'm sure the others are worried. See you, Yuuki." He bids them a goodbye, not addressing Zero even once before he's gone. Yuuki frowns at his back, confused and hurt on Zero's behalf, though she's pretty sure he prefers Kaname not acknowledging him.

They stand in silence for awhile before Zero gives the sky a considering look similar to what Kaname had done.

"We should probably head inside," he tells her. She glances at Zero before looking at the sky as well, finally nodding.

"Alright." She tucks Artemis into it's holster on her leg and they make their way into the house, Zero beginning to rib her on her botched landing as they move. They both miss the faintly glowing eyes watching them from amongst the shadows of the trees.


	10. Tenth Evening

**So** **Zero and his _stupid tattoo that I forgot about _hijacked this chapter which I had intended to be Yuuki maybe meeting Yori (though I hadn't been able to figure that friendship out and still haven't), and the Day Class discovering the Night Class during the switch.** **So this chapter is an amalgam of what I'd intended to do and what I ended up having to do because of my carelessness.** **As a side note, when I switch into the official timeline chapters, they'll be marked as Nights rather than as Evenings!**

**_kiki8o, it isn't that she _doesn't _wonder, it's more along the lines that she is very purposely _not thinking about it._ At this point, he is her "foundation" (which, yes, was probably deliberate on Kaname's part), and she doesn't want to mess purposely with the status quo because a) it isn't obviously harmful or negative for her and b) because she, at least subconsciously, is aware that she has suppressed memories and that Kaname probably has something to do with them. In this situation, Yuuki is not consciously aware of it but she is being willfully blind and allowing herself to be manipulated in this way in order to maintain the relationships she sees as "ideal" (which is another trait from me, as I have a fear of abandonment and allow people to get away with practical murder so long as they don't leave me behind)._** **_She's pretty smart and not at all blind, so she's noticing more than canon!Yuuki, she's just not letting herself linger on them._**

**_To pendora59, thanks for the reviews! They're short but to the point, and it's always interesting to have to translate them! Like a pleasant surprise._**

**_One of you guests left me a delightfully long review_****_, and in reply will receive a long answer! I haven't actually thought about periods or music in relation to this fic, actually. In the manga, we never see cellphones or TV's or overt signs of entertainment media beyond books and the occasional magazine in Cross Academy, which is where Yuuki spends most of her time in one way or another._**

**_But to answer your questions: she'd probably really enjoy music with a heavy emphasis on instruments, unique sounds or music with a prominent bass? Classic rock would be one of the favorites, yeah, as well as indie, classical and genres like dubstep. Feeling bodyshame is unlikely, and I think vampires would be polite (and scared) enough to not comment on her period or react about it, as I imagine it wouldn't be the same as standard blood. I personally don't experience really bad cramps or mood swings (only crazy cravings like a pickle taco when I was thirteen that traumatized my entire family) and I'm stupidly irregular besides, so I can't relate well to that sort of thing and didn't have any plans on including that? (On a side note your assessment of Kaien is absolutely correct and sort of inspiring.)_**

**_The "Black Widow moves" you mentioned isn't likely to happen, though it does seem cool. That sort of thing requires specialized training for both the body in general and the moves specifically (that Yuuki doesn't have) to make sure that the user doesn't injure themself in the process. She could probably pull them off on the fly, but it isn't likely to be on purpose because the possibility of it being successful for someone of Yuuki's stature is low._**

**I hope to hear from you all again!**

* * *

Yuuki watches quietly as Zero chugs his way through five water bottles in one sitting and less than three minutes, concerned and confused. _Is this a part of a boy's process for growing up?_ A huge increase in food and water intake? Because Zero has been eating huge portions at all meals, and drinking almost constantly. _Or is it something else?_

Cross, who is standing a few feet away, is studying Zero with an expression she can't quite understand. Oh, she sees the resignation and worry there, but she doesn't understand _why_. _Is this not normal?_

_Is something wrong with Zero?_ Cross certainly seems to think so, one arm crossed over his chest and cupping the elbow of his other arm, the palm cradling his chin as he watches Zero. He hasn't actually spoken to Zero, though. Probably because of the nearly visibly aura of "approach and die" that wafts from Zero anytime he makes the attempt or approaches. Yuuki has the feeling he said something that had set Zero into an even worse mood than normal. Zero throws away the empty plastic, grabbing onto his school jacket and slipping it on, prompting Yuuki to jump to her feet and do the same, the both of them slipping their shoes on at the same time.

"See you later, Cross!" Yuuki waves behind her distractedly as she and Zero leave the house, beginning the walk across campus that will take them to the Night Class main school building so they can escort the vampires to their dorms. She hears Cross' exuberant goodbye from behind them and then she's matching stride with Zero. Well, trying to match stride with Zero. He's over a foot taller than her now, so his legs are longer and therefore his strides as well. It takes maybe three of her normal steps to keep up with one of his, and two if she does something like a half-jog.

Not bothering to ask him to slow down because she knows he won't, Yuuki jabs an arm forward and moves, snake quick, to constrict his arm, gripping onto it with as much strength as she can manage. She then rotates her legs and feet just slightly so as not to scuff any part of her shoes other than her heels, letting him drag her along. He gives her a quick glance- the familiar exasperation and mild annoyance lurking in them- but doesn't falter in his pace. She makes a poutily-annoyed face at him in response, and he scoffs under his breath, returning his attention to the path in front of them.

Yuuki looks up to the sky, feeling kind of tired, and watches as it slowly brightens from black to deep blue, then to purple with distant hints of red, orange and yellow. Finally they make it to the building just as the doors open and the vampires come into view. Yuuki releases Zero, her body almost tumbling to the ground if not for her quick hip rotation putting her in a half kneeling position, her arms outstretched just slightly to protect her balance. She quickly straightens and moves to the other side of the path as Zero, so they're surrounding the vampires.

Kaname is towards the back of the group, with his familiar entourage of seven vampires, the rest of them going ahead, talking quietly amongst themselves. Zero and Yuuki receive the suspicious and mildly-irritated stares as usual and, as usual, ignore them. Yuuki nods and smiles to some of Kaname's group, who she has not spent much personal time with but who she knows nonetheless.

There is Ruka Souen, the girl who she is fairly sure likes Kaname romantically, with her light tan colored hair and brown eyes. There's the girl who she thinks is named Seiren walking just behind Kaname and slightly to his left- just enough to be in his peripherals, with purple hair and eyes. There's Rima and Senri, two lazy students who almost always have a snack food on hand and don't really like sharing, Rima with her orange hair and pale blue eyes, and Senri with his reddish hair and even paler blue eyes. Then there's Takuma, who she would not admit to avoiding. There's Aidou Hanabusa, who had been the blonde complaining about the entrance exam that first day, and Kain Akatsuki, that vampire from when she had fled Kaname's room.

Of all of them, Yuuki is probably closest to Akatsuki after Kaname. She isn't close enough to call him by his first name or spend time alone with him, but he actually acknowledges her and sometimes draws her into conversations during switch times. She catches him watching her sometimes, but it never feels invasive or annoying, so she hasn't said or done anything about it. After him would probably be Senri, then Rima, as Senri had given her a stick of pocky one morning when she'd felt particularly dead on her feet, and Rima had patted her head as she walked past.

Zero had watched the entire interaction like a hawk, but hadn't interfered or threatened anyone, which Yuuki had felt was a large step to eventual peace between he and the other race.

She's the least close to Souen and Hanabusa, though. Souen because of the girls bullheaded refusal to see Yuuki as anything but a "human child" who is "getting cozy with Kaname-sama", and Hanabusa because of his casual dismissal of her as anything but a human girl, and his inability to treat her kindly or even respectfully, always taunting her and being casually threatening with his vampiric nature.

She's already had to stop Zero from shooting him several times due to his comments on her scent, which apparently annoys and confuses him, if his veiled barbs of _"what, do you snuggle with his clothes every time you sleep?"_ that she really doesn't want explaining, and remarks on how he wants her blood.

Usually, Kaname doesn't say anything during switches, content to listen to those around him and very rarely contributing anything unless someone says something inappropriate to the guardians, Yuuki in particular. Today, his reddish eyes watch Zero for long enough for Yuuki to feel apprehensive. It isn't until ten minutes later, as they're approaching the Moon dorm gates than Kaname looks away from Zero, who had been visibly bristling after only thirty seconds of focused intent.

"You're looking a little sick, Kiryuu. Maybe you should take some medicine?" Yuuki's eyes fly to Zero, searching for the sickness Kaname claims to see, but she can't see anything other than his suddenly bloodless face, his eyes frigid and blank as he stares at Kaname. She doesn't quite understand why, as there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with Zero from what she can see right now- but maybe it's a vampire thing? She'd read somewhere that dogs could smell sickness, can the same be said for vampires?

Then the vampires are gone, behind the now closing gates of the Moon dorms. Yuuki is immediately at Zero's side, staring at his face and looking for any sign of sickness or weakness that may have led to Kaname saying such a thing.

"Zero? Are you sick? Do you need to go home?" She pesters worriedly, poking his stomach when he remains rigidly stone still. "Are you pushing yourself?" She frowns, pushing to her tiptoes to see his face better. His pupils are constricted and there's a light sheen of sweat just along his hairline and near his temples. Yuuki reaches up to feel his forehead and he swallows and clenches his jaw, moving back and away from her just before her palm can make contact.

"I'm fine," he tells her, his voice suspiciously flat. Recognizing the tell, Yuuki frowns at him in disapproval. He plants a palm atop her head, fingers digging in slightly as he pushes her away from him. "I _don't need_ _medicine_. I'll be _fine_." There's a stubborn and truly angry note in his words, and while it isn't directed at her, she draws back anyway, stepping obligingly out of his personal space.

"...You're sure?" She asks, just the one more time, still worried. She really doesn't want anything to happen to Zero.

"Yeah," he gives her a rare half-smile, as though it will cover up the lie she heard in his voice. But taking him at his word, because she's not going to call him a liar _to his face_, she nods and moves to stand near him again.

"Let's go, then, or we'll be late," she decides, gesturing to the brightening sky before yawning slightly. Due to their duties as "Guardians", which kept the vampire and humans safe from each other, she and Zero both got maybe four hours of sleep. Zero glances at her before making his way toward the Day Class buildings, leaving her in his dust without any warning. With an indignant shout, she rushes after him, deciding last second to jump and land on his back, grappling close like a koala. He stumbles and his hands instinctively wrap under her knees, which are on either side of his ribs.

"Honestly…" He complains under his breath. She makes a mockingly loud snicker right above his left ear, quietly taunting, and if she hadn't been prepared for the possibility, his knee jerk reaction of flipping her bodily over his shoulder and into the ground would have succeeded. As it stands, though, she just constricted her limbs and hunkered down as he made the twist-and-grab motion but failed to move her. She makes a few more taunting noises before stopping, as she knows Zero isn't above bodily throwing himself to the ground in order to either injure or dislodge her.

"We're seriously going to be late," she points out. With a few choice mumbles that are too garbled by volume, Zero sets off toward their class building at a jog that she would have had to run to keep up with had she been on the ground. It isn't that it's fast, but it's once again to do with his legs, which just eat up the distance in that unique way only tall people ever really seem to manage.

* * *

"Eh? Zero- _you got a tattoo?!"_ Yuuki shrieks, startled as she wakes up to find Zero in her room.

He and Cross had disappeared for three days, and he comes back with a tattoo?! And are those earrings she can see in his ears? _They are!_

Scrambling out of her bed she stumble-lunges toward Zero, one hand grabbing onto his face and the other landing on his right shoulder to man handle his head. The tattoo is a stylized symbol that's vaguely familiar to her but that she can't place, looking fairly fresh. Ignoring how complacent Zero is being, she rotates his head and looks his ears over. There are three silver hoops in his upper left ear, and teo hoops on his lower right.

Then she notices how tired and stressed out Zero looks, his eyes slightly unfocused and with bags beneath them, his skin paler than usual. She flexes her hand where it rests in the side of his face and focuses on the sensations she's receiving from it, recognizing that he's clammy.

"Zero?" She repeats his name carefully, peering at his face worriedly. His pupils contract slightly when she sways her head a little, so she is pretty sure he's registering what's in front of him even if it's only barely, but other than that he doesn't move. "Zero, I'll be right back, okay?" She tells him. He doesn't twitch, and she straightens and leaves the room, looking for Cross. He must know something about this, she's sure of it.

She finds him in his personal office, staring down at something despondently.

"Cross! What happened to Zero?!" She demands, planting her palms down forcefully on his desk. It gives a sharp and ominous creak but otherwise nothing happens, and she stares down her "father" as he looks up at her in surprise. "He has earrings and a tattoo, and he's also unresponsive again!"

"I can't tell you," Cross admits to her. As she's about to open her mouth, he cuts her off. "If Zero-kun wants to tell you, he will, but _I can't tell you_." He insists. She stares at him for awhile before lifting her hands off the desk, crossing them over her chest.

"Does his tattoo need treatment?" She eventually asks. "Cleaning to prevent infection, bandaging, anything like that?"

"No," he shakes his head, not bothering to ask why she knows about tattoo care. "All that has already been taken care of."

"Okay." She turns and leaves the room determinedly, heading for the kitchen and heating up some water in the microwave, grabbing the instant hot chocolate packages down from the cabinet. It isn't as good as homemade, but it has mini marshmallows and will be warm, so should be helpful regardless, right? She used to just sit with Zero when he got like this, but he's been so thirsty lately that having something to drink should help.

When she gets back to her room carrying two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, Zero is still in the same exact place.

"Zero," she tries to catch his attention as she sets the mug down on the little table next to the chair. He doesn't move and she folds downwards, sitting on the floor with crossed legs and cuddling her mug close to her chest, staring at his shattered expression. "Cross won't tell me why you're like this, or where you guys went. But I'm here, okay?"

Something in his eyes changes, and she has barely a few seconds warning to set her mug to the side as Zero limply slips downwards in the chair, sliding until he's free and his knees impact with the floor. Then he's collapsing forwards towards her, and she falls under his sudden weight and his size. His face is pressed into her left shoulder, most of his body covering her own, and he goes limp.

For awhile she's frozen in place before lifting her hands, one landing on his back and the other pressing against the back of his neck, carefully avoiding where she knows the tattoo is. From what she knows of tattoos, touching it would probably be painful for him.

Her shoulder feels tingly and numb, but she manages to feel a few cold drops of water sliding over the curve towards the ground, and she realizes that _Zero's crying._ Not a lot, there's only a few tears before he stops, but to cry at all… She'd never seen Zero cry, or seen any sign that he had done so. Even in his first days staying with Cross and her, she'd seen no signs of tears- only blank distance, and hate.

"Zero…" She whispers sadly and begins to card her hand through the hair near the nape of his neck, not really sure what else to do. She really hadn't expected Zero to come to her for comfort, or to do something like this, as he's usually so calm and mature. _But_, she supposes, _everyone needs to be weak sometimes._

* * *

Zero doesn't come to their classes for the next few days, and he simply lurks around the house in that time. Yuuki is initially worried, as she finds broken glass in his room, and Bloody Rose often finds its way into his grasp despite there not being any real need for it, but eventually he seems to come out of it.

"Yuuki," his voice is startling- unexpected and from right behind her. Jumping in shock, she accidentally pulls on her hair from where she'd been dragging it into a high ponytail. She turns to find Zero standing in the doorway to her room, his shirt only half buttoned, his hair somewhat ratty and his feet bare. Bloody Rose is in a loose grip in his right hand, a new chain dangling from the end of the handle and leading to his belt loops. "Fight me."

"Eh? Right now?" She questions, letting her hands drop to her sides.

"Yeah. Get Artemis. We'll fight in the yard." And then he's gone, disappeared from sight and walking down the hall. Yuuki blinks, looking down to check her clothes and see if she's wearing enough or if she should risk stalling a little to get dressed. If Zero thinks she's taking too long, he just might come back and physically haul her out of her room, Artemis or no.

She's dressed in gray shorts that end halfway down her thighs, a black tank top and her white ankle socks. This is her sleepwear, and a glance at her window reveals the setting sun. Deciding to peel off her socks, she stumbles a little as she grabs Artemis in the process before making her way out of her room and then down the hall to the back door.

Zero is out there waiting for her, and she stalls for a second seeing that he'd taken off his shirt. The stark black tattoo, raised slightly with some red skin at the edges, is obvious against the pale skin of his neck, and for a moment she sees blood covering his throat in that exact area. A mirage, her memory from when she had first seen Zero. Then she's moving again, Artemis extending in her grasp with hardly a thought, and she swings at his torso.

He doesn't dodge, and Artemis connects with his upper left ribs hard enough to send him stumbling slightly. For an instant, almost too fast for her to see, she thinks she's somehow seeing stars, then things are back to normal and Zero is staring at Artemis. His expression is something between disbelief and confusion. Yuuki pauses, Artemis twirling in her grasp to it's pressed against the back of her arm and legs at a diagonal.

"Zero? Why didn't you dodge?" She asks carefully, taking a few steps to the side and watching him with a hawklike gaze. His gaze remains on Artemis for another moment before he seems to get irritated.

"It wasn't like you really hit that hard," he baits in a deadpan. Yuuki kind of can't believe he's expecting her to fall for such an obvious ploy. A minute of him staring at her expectantly has her giving in and swinging at him in a straight horizontal, but only at half strength, as she suspects he won't dodge again.

He doesn't. Instead, he lifts the hand not occupied with Bloody Rose and catches Artemis in it. She immediately tries to yank it out of his grasp, but her efforts are futile and his grip remains strong. He stares at the hand holding the weapon and the weapon itself with an expression of anxious expectation, and Yuuki isn't 100% sure why but it makes something in her chest twist.

Yuuki collapses Artemis and it comes back to her, then she extends it again within the next blink. Watching Zero with a stern gaze, she inhales slowly and then twirls Artemis in her grip, having a feeling that Zero needs to see how he will do against her weapon more than her specifically, and judging by his white knuckled grip on Bloody Rose, that as well.

"Actually fight me, Zero. I don't want to just beat you, you know?" She tells him before shifting her weight and using her back foot to skid into a lunging form, going low and sweeping Artemis out toward his calves. He jumps backwards and fires at her instinctively, but she's already used her forward momentum to roll, Artemis collapsing and extending in the second it takes her roll to complete and her to jump to the side. She suppresses her immediate flash of pride at managing to do it so smoothly, focusing her attention on the fight. Zero tries to kick her as she moves towards him again, but ever since he'd gotten Bloody Rose he's been relying on it and his other skills are awkward without his hands completely free to act as counterbalances.

The kick is as though he's trying to kick down a door and is aimed for her chest, but she ducks and it goes over her shoulder as she gets in his personal space. The tip of Artemis hits him in the center of his throat just as she shoots into a straight stand, still beneath his leg. He chokes and his other leg flies out from under him as his inability to do a standing splits rejects the pose she'd provoked, and his back hits the ground harshly. His reflexive shot of Bloody Rose hits her in the calf, taking that leg out from under her and sending her down onto one knee.

Not letting that stop her and taking advantage of Zero's hacking coughs as he struggles to recover from such a hard throat strike, she uses her up leg to propel herself forward and twirls Artemis above her head before bringing it down on his torso with as much speed as she is able.

He manages to bring up an arm to block, and the strike causes the skin beneath the metal to split and bleed immediately. Artemis sparks in response to the blood, and Zero freezes in place, his eyes reflecting the electricity. Yuuki withdraws to look at the sparks, and remembers the last time that she had gotten blood on the rod.

"Oh, it did it again?" She wonders to herself, attention completely diverted from the fight that Zero hadn't really been participating in.

"Again?" Zero asks sharply.

"Yeah," she confirms. "When I first got Artemis, I didn't know how to use it because I was too impatient to let Cross explain. So I tried to extend and collapse it myself, and when I finally managed it I gave myself a bloody nose. It sparked for awhile but it stopped when I cleaned the blood off." As a show of her intent, she brings the end of the still extended rod and wipes the blood off on her tank top, the sparking winding down then the crimson liquid is cleared away.

"You gave yourself a bloody nose with Artemis," Zero repeats in a monotone, the look in his eyes bland. Yuuki can tell he's trying to tease her, though, and stands, collapsing Artemis.

"Should I give you a bloody nose, too?!" She demands before, somewhat contradictorily, twisting and dropping onto Zero's bared stomach elbow first and with her entire weight behind it. He makes a wheezing noise, immediately curling around his stomach as he pushes her away with the hand holding Bloody Rose. The weapon is warm against the side of her head as she's shoved away and she huffs at Zero in mock offense and over reacts to the shove, landing on the ground and splaying her arms out.

"Zero, are you okay?" She asks eventually when his wheezing dies out and he is simply reclining on the ground, seemingly have abandoned the idea of fighting her. There's no answer for awhile, and she's beginning to think he won't answer her at all, before he admits quietly.

"Getting there. Sort of." She wants to ask more. Demand answers and poke and prod until he either explains himself or lashes out- anything to get rid of the resigned and tired edges she can hear in his voice. But something niggling in the back of her head stops her. She knows she can figure it out on her own if she really wants to. She's been feeling the deja vu often lately, and it wouldn't be too difficult to find the sources and then research them. The question that's stalling her, though, is whether or not she wants to infringe on Zero's privacy with her need for answers. If he wants her to know, he'll tell her.

_Right?_


	11. First Night

**_Valen Goncalvez? You're my favorite reviewer right now!_**

**_pendora59, it's nice to see you again!_**

**So I wrote omakes and the bio anyways and _will _be posting them. The bio will be at the end of this chapter along with the very first omake! I'll mark the starts so you can skip them if you like, and the bio will be last.**

* * *

Sighing as she wakes from her hour of sleep in the Sun Dorms, Yuuki quickly assesses that Yori has already gone to bed and that her alarm is telling her she has about ten minutes before she will be late for the evening switch over.

Quickly throwing on the Day Class uniform that she'd changed out of to sleep, she grumbles sleepily to herself. The uniform consists of a black jacket over a white dress shirt, black mini skirt and black knee high socks, the jacket lined over with white patterns. She pushes her feet into her combat boots, which had been a gift from Kaname just like her last pairs, which she had grown out of a month and a half back, and then ties the red ribbon around her throat to complete her uniform, her fingers briefly lingering on the necklace Cross had given her as a gift a week ago. Yawning as she braids her hair back into a french braid, she tucks Artemis into it's new holster up her sleeve against her right arm and makes her way out of her dorm.

She's about three minutes from the dorm and going to be on time before she looks down and realizes that she isn't wearing the armband that gives her "recognized authority" as a school Guardian and she makes a sharp noise of disapproval, running back to the dorms as fast as she can, now more awake.

She manages to get the armband and then makes her way to the Moon Dorm gates at a run, pinning the red cloth just before she gets into sight of the large gates. There's already a group in front of the doors, a good majority of them female but some males as well. They're all clustered close to it, which would not only prevent the doors from actually opening, but also puts them too close to them in the first place.

"Hey!" She yells, though the action is uncomfortable. She moves in front of the group and stands with her hands on her hips, trying to seem intimidating and probably failing. "For one, it's past curfew! None of you are supposed to be here right now! And for two, you're too close! Back off! At this distance, the doors won't even be able to open, and wouldn't it be rude to make the Night Class late for their classes just because you're being selfish?!"

"Don't get so high and mighty just because you're a prefect!" One boy yells in protest, several girls chiming in their agreement. Yuuki sighs and plants herself a little more firmly in place before she hears a soft click behind her. The group in front of her immediately backs up and parts, leaving her standing dead in front of the gates, probably looking like an idiot. She quickly surveys the group and then moves herself to stand near one girl who looks a little too enthusiastic.

She's had to intercept a lunging girl more than a few times, so she wants to at least try and be prepared to do so again.

The Night Class, in their white uniforms that are otherwise exactly like the Day Class uniforms begin to file out in one large clump, though with some stragglers. Leading the pack is Aidou, with Takuma off to his right. Kaname is in the center of their grouping, with Kain on his left and Souen on his right, with Seiren just a little behind them. Yuuki can just barely see Rima and Senri in the back, maybe a dozen other Night Class students trailing behind them.

"Good morning, ladies!" Aidou greets in a cheerful voice. "Still as pretty as ever, I see!" There's a muffled shriek from nearby, and Yuuki has less than a second to try and prepare herself before all the nearby girls swarm forwards, their voices melting into one high pitched _"kya"._ Despite her firm footing and experience, Yuuki is still shoved right off of her feet and into the ground, her palms connecting just before her face could connect and saving her from bashing her nose into the cobble stones.

She's just pushing herself up when a large hand rests against her shoulder, and she sees a white clad body kneel down before her. She looks up quickly, sitting on her knees and bracing her upper body with her arms. It's Kaname, and he's looking better than she's seen him in a while- less tired and sad.

"Are you okay, Yuuki? They're always so difficult to manage, aren't they?" He asks, referring to the Day Class mob. She offers him a small, tired grin and allows him to help her stand up.

"I'm just fine, thanks," she says, taking a careful step back and out of his grasp as she feels the eyes of probably dozens of girls drilling into her back. She sincerely doubts they'll manage any meaningful retribution for getting so close to Kaname, who they see as some sort of god, but it's better to be safe. He straightens to his full height before her, and glances over the watching students, who have gone mostly silent. The Night Class is a few feet away, all watching as well with wary eyes.

"It's my pleasure," he reassures, reaching out to rest a palm on her head. It's barely there a second before Zero appears at her side, looking stormily-angry. He looks like he wants to tear Kaname's hand off of her head, but refrains, though his aura seems to get significantly darker as Kaname pointedly leaves his hand there for a moment longer before Zero speaks.

"Class is starting, Kuran," he reminds in a flat tone. Kaname removes his hand from atop her head, though his fingertips trail along her cheekbone for a moment before he turns.

"Oh, you're so scary," Kaname taunts as he begins to walk away with the rest of the Night Class. As they linger behind, they see a girl with long black hair pull herself free of the pushes on the side of the path. She says something they can't quite hear, offering Kaname a rose. He accepts it with a smile, and the girl runs back to the group beginning to cluster behind the guardians.

"Hey, Yuuki." Zero's head rocks to the side and he gives her a blank stare. "I know it's none of my business how you and Kaname interact with each other, but you do remember the rules, right?"

"Shut up!" She grumbles. He turns to look behind them and Yuuki turns as well, catching sight of the rose in Kaname's hand turning to ashes just before her vision of him is gone.

"Listen up, brats! Get the hell back to your dorms!" Zero shouts, actually managing to startle Yuuki despite the fact that she expected it. "Why do I have to deal with you crowding around screaming, going 'kya kya' every damn day?! Scram!" The group of Day Class students shriek and run as though Zero will chase them down and kill them, shrieking in terror.

Yuuki almost wants to laugh at them, but now that there's no pressing duties other than to trail the vampires to make sure they all go where they're supposed to go, she's actually rather angry with Zero. Without even looking away from the back of the vampires as they follow behind, she punches Zero in the ribs as hard as she can.

"You were late again! Useless jerk!" She snaps. He always either shows up late, or not at all, and none of the students respect her nearly as much as they fear Zero, and it makes her job incredibly difficult.

"That hurts!" Zero yelps. "I'll get you for that," he then warns as they hurry forward, having dropped slightly behind the group.

"Maybe, but will it be worth it?" She retorts with a nonchalant wave of her hand. He scoffs, keeping one hand pressed against the sore spot on his ribs and tucking the other into his pocket, watching Yuuki's back as she moves slightly faster than he. Her braid is messy, and there's a leaf stuck in it near the end, probably from her fall earlier. He turns his attention away from that, grabbing her by the back of her uniform jacket and taking long strides to walk even closer to the vampires. She squawks a little in indignance at his action, but doesn't really protest, as he sets her down moments after they've caught up.

Leaving the vampires in their class, they make their way to the faculty building to speak to Cross, as since he's the headmaster, they have to make their reports as guardians. Zero falls slightly behind Yuuki and reaches out to take hold of the end of her braid.

"Zero?" Yuuki turns, still walking, and gives him a confused look. He wordlessly holds up the end of her braid, which is messily tied off with a leaf sticking out of the end. She flushes a little and turns back forwards, not saying anything further as she feels Zero untie the end of her braid and begin to undo it, handing her the hair tie a moment later.

Her hair, now reaching just slightly past her waist, is always a hassle. She'd taught Zero how to braid it when he lost a bet maybe a year ago, and while that had been a time of strife due to how difficult it was to get the tangles out at first, he'd gotten much better at it since then (of course, so had Kaname and Kaien, who she'd gone to to get help with the tangles, which she's pretty sure Zero used as motivation). Soon they're arriving at the headmaster's office, and Zero is beginning her braid anew, the tugging slightly painful but mostly soothing.

"This is ridiculous," Zero says without preamble once they enter the office and the doors are closed behind them. He finishes off her braid and extends a hand over his shoulder for the hair tie, which she gives to him without a word as Cross visibly tears up at their "closeness". Cross is currently tucked into three blankets and a shawl, his hair a mess and his hands wrapped around a steaming mug of what smells like hot cocoa. Zero ties off her braid then rounds her to plant his palms on Cross' desk.

"How can you possibly expect just the two of us to guard those blood suckers and deal with the screaming idiots, Mr. Chairman?!" Zero demands hotly, the old argument appearing once again. Just behind Zero, Yuuki clasps her hands in front of her stomach and sighs.

"I admit that it must be difficult to deal with so much all the time," Cross concedes. "So thank you for your hard work!"

"At least find someone else to help me before the whole thing implodes, if you're so set on this! She's no good at this sort of thing!" A thumb is jabbed in her direction, and a hot spike of indignation lances through her.

"I'm not going to take that from someone who's late half the time and absent the rest!" Yuuki protests, lifting a fist to gesture angrily at his back.

"Impossible," Cross denies, taking a sip of his cocoa. "Due to the role of the guardians, whom are instrumental in successful co-existence, you two are the only ones I can trust." He informs them seriously. "Besides," He droops a little, "it's a thankless job, with long hours, sleepless nights and no respect. No one else would take it. I know that my adorable daughter and loving son won't let me down."

Zero's hands press down much harder on the desk suddenly, the wood caving downwards sharply at his strength as he becomes visibly furious.

"You have taken care of me," Zero growls, withdrawing from Cross' desk to stare him in the eyes, his aura heavy with his irritation. "But I don't remember ever agreeing to being your son!"

"You always obsess over the details," Cross complains, lowering his legs so his feet connect with the floor and flapping a hand at Zero. "It's such a pain. You're my son in my heart."

"Hey, Yuuki," Zero calls for her attention, as though she wasn't paying attention in the first place. "Don't you have anything to say about this? He'll listen to you more, as his adorable daughter'."

"Eh? Well, the Day Class is really annoying, but the Night Class has been pretty well behaved, all considering. And it's pretty tiring," she lifts a hand to the back of her head and digs her fingers into the center of the braid, ignoring Zero's irritated glance at her hand. He hates it when she messes up his work, especially when it's so soon after he's done it. Noticing Cross' increasingly disheartened look, she hurries to smile. "But I'm mostly just happy to help!"

"You're such a good girl, Yuuki! I'm so proud of you!" Cross wails, getting trembly and teary eyed. "Yuuki is the only one who truly understands my pacifism!" He clenches a fist close to his face, which is getting increasingly flushed and teary eyed. Yuuki takes a step back and Zero takes two, the both of them getting out of the line of fire as Cross springs to his feet and poses dramatically, one hand over his heart and the other stretching upwards like he's about to perform a shakespearean soliloquy. "And me? I dream that one day we will break out of the dark cycle of hatred that haunts the relationship between humans and vampires! I believe that if the youth of today can grow together with open hearts and inquiring minds, we can finally build a bridge whereby out two races will be able to live together in harmony! That is the glory of education!" Cross twists, one arm flying out and extending his top most blanket as a type of banner. "That is the purpose of the Night Class!"

Yuuki kindly doesn't voice her thoughts on the matter as she patiently watches Cross' dramatics with a sense of resigned patience.

"...I'm going on patrol," Zero informs, turning and walking out with plugged ears. "This nut is all yours, Yuuki." The door slams behind him and Cross freezes in place, seeming incredibly depressed.

"It's a shame… But I do understand why Kiryuu feels the way he does," Cross says, relaxing into a more natural pose and wrapping himself back up in his blanket. "Even within the vampire community, there are evil creatures that still prey on humans. That's why it would be a disaster if the truth about the Night Class ever got out."

A thought occurs to Yuuki then, and she frowns slightly at it before shaking her head and striding for the window, spotting Zero already making his way down the path for the patrol they're supposed to _share_.

"It will be okay, Father! Just leave it to us guardians!" She calls behind her as she peels open the window, wanting to cheer him up from his somber mood. Cross appears visibly touched and a tad sparkly eyed as he waves. "I'm going!"

"Yes! Yes!" Is called out from behind her as she jumps down the three story drop, landing with a careful roll so as to not injure herself or get a bleeding wound. She catches up to Zero quickly enough, and he acts as though he doesn't know she's there for most of the patrol, until they separate to each lap around the Sun Dorms and school building (Zero taking the school building and Yuuki taking the Sun Dorms), and he tells her to be safe before disappearing.

* * *

"Cross!" The teacher's irritated voice wakes her from her half-doze, but she doesn't move, still too sleepy to make an effort. She would do the extra work she'd undoubtedly be assigned later, and rope Zero into doing his as well while she was at it. As was routine. "Cross! Good grief, nothing wakes that girl up… Alright then. Kiryuu!"

From behind her, she hears the boy who sits next to Zero speak up. "Teacher, Kiryuu is also asleep."

"The two of them do this all the time! What on earth are they up to that makes them so tired!? Detention for the both of them!" Yuuki wants to sigh, but instead just lets herself drift back into that space between sleep and wakefulness that lets her regain her energy but doesn't leave her dead to the world. The bell ringing makes her sit up and stretch, twisting slightly in her seat to work out any lingering kinks from laying in such a straining position for over an hour. Next to her, Yori begins to pack her bag.

"Ahh, I don't want to go to detention again," she complains. Usually she would be spending that time taking a nap before switch over and then patrols.

"It's really your own fault for staying out all night and sleeping all day," Yori tells her unsympathetically. "Really, you're such a vampire."

"Eh?" Yuuki looks over at her friend. "You think I'm a vampire?" Her voice is curious but amused, showing no hint of her internal jolt at her casual mention of the word "vampire". Yori gives her a flat glance.

"Of course not, I was kidding."

"Hey, Yori, will you come to detention with me?" Yuuki asks as Yori stands. "Please? It sucks having to spend so much time with Zero!"

"No way," is the immediate refusal. "And I thought you guys were friends?"

"Well, we are, but he's such a pain to deal with lately! He's always in a bad mood and he's so flakey!" She complains, feeling his glare on her back.

"Yuuki. I can hear you." She turns and sees his glare. She makes a face at him.

"I'm saying it because i know you can hear me! You've been a jerk lately!" Yori says something about Zero's attitude from behind her, but she isn't really paying her friend any attention because she's busy pulling her face into an exaggerated expression of irritation and disgust. She does pay attention, though, as Yori begins to walk out.

"Now that I think about it, you two are perfect for each other. But, um, by the way? You're late for detention."

* * *

Standing on the roof of an adjacent building with Zero, Yuuki peers into the Class currently being used by the Night Class, faintly overhearing their teacher as he lectures and as she counts out the attendance.

_"... Are the first of our kind in the world to test these newly developed blood tablets. Not only are we the pride of the school, we are the pride of the entire vampire race."_ She finishes her count of the vampires as Zero speaks up.

"So how is Kuran Kaname, your hero, doing tonight?" He prods as he stares off over the grounds with a bland look. Yuuki jumps a little and gives him a somewhat confused look.

".. I assume he's okay?" She glances over and sees that he is paying the teacher attention. "He looks fine. I was counting the attendance, though? To make sure they were all behaving themselves and attending classes as they should." Zero doesn't say anything as she turns her attention from the school building and out onto the grounds between the school building and the Sun Dorms. "Have you seen anyone out?"

"... No," he answers after she's turned to look at him oddly in response to his silence.

"We're probably in for a mostly peaceful night," she says, relieved.

"Hey," Zero calls for her attention, and she turns, pacing towards him so he doesn't have to raise his voice too much so close to the Night Class, not that it would stop them from overhearing them if they wanted to. "The chairman thinks that the members of the Night Class are pacifists… But I don't believe that. So I'm not going to let my guard down, and I'm never going to understand how an adult like the chairman could ever cooperate with them."

Yuuki remains silent, letting him get this off of his chest. She can't help but agree with Zero, just the slightest bit. The vampires in the building behind them… None of them are pacifistic in nature. Most of them are just following Kaname's lead, and Kaname? She isn't really sure why he's doing this.

"The reason they look like humans… that's so they can hunt us down more effectively," Zero tells her, glancing over at the windows of the school building before looking at her. "I'm starting my patrol now." He turns and walks off toward the stairs on the side of the building that they'd used to get up. Yuuki begins to make her way down the side of the school building, pacing along the edge as she looks around for rule breakers, letting Zero's words stew in her head.

She wants to be optimistic, she does, but Zero always says something to make her doubt everything and think about things she doesn't really want to think about. Like the vampires' supposedly pacifistic natures. Or about Artemis' reactions to both Zero and herself, which have been gradually getting… _sparkier_ during their spars. Or about the books she'd borrowed from Cross' personal study and stashed in her room in the house for research, because it's been months since Zero started to act so strangely and he hasn't told her _anything_.

She hears faint voices and frowns, jogging to the far edge of the building and looking down. There are two girls in the middle of the path leading up to the school building, both of them sitting on the ground. Quickly gauging the distance, Yuuki complains quietly to herself.

"Day Class students breaking curfew _again_?" She drops down, rolling slightly but getting a minor scrape against the side of her hand when she almost lands on it and moves it poorly. She quickly presses it against the inside of her sleeve to stop the bleeding and makes her way toward the two day class students, who had startled quite loudly at her "sudden appearance".

"Who-?"

"Hey, you two!" She calls, her braid slapping against her back as she straightens with a small bounce before making her way in their direction with stern purpose. "I want your names and your class! Wandering around like this is strictly prohibited!" She glares at them, making a point to pull on her guardian cuff to show them that they've definitely been busted, rather than been called out by a fellow rule breaker.

"We just came to take photos of the Night Class students. What the hell is your problem?" One demands as Yuuki realizes that she smells blood just as the other girl sniffles a little. Her eyes immediately moving over, she spots the girl with a long scrape on her leg, stretching from her knee to her calf.

"You're hurt? We should get to the Dorm Nurse quickly, then! It could get infected!" She tries to subtly hurry them along, knowing she's doing poorly but just slightly too panicked because that's a large cut and they're literally just outside the building where over 20 vampires are located.

From behind her, there's a soft sound, and Artemis falls from her sleeve at a twist of her wrist, the rod extending instantaneously as she turns.

"You're _not allowed outside now!"_ She snaps, rotating her body and swinging Artemis around for a punishing blow against the offender, putting herself between the vampires behind her and the girls, who have both frozen stiff.

"How scary," Kain smiles at her, one hand having come up quickly to block the strike. She can see Aidou behind him, staring at her with something like contempt as Kain's gaze just seems bored to her. Artemis sparks punishingly and Kain withdraws his hand quickly, Yuuki twirling the rod quickly in her hands to it is stretched horizontally across her front.

The stupid girls behind her are squealing and fan-girling in response to the two Night Class students, heedless of the tense air around them.

"We smelt blood and decided to come take a look," Aidou tells her smoothly. "You're really so mean to us, Yuuki." There's a quick shiver of unease through her at his casual use of her first name despite the fact that she'd never given him permission to call her as such. "After all," his eyes flick downwards to focus on her injured hand, "we came here especially to see you."

Yuuki twists Artemis outwards to point an end towards the vampire who has taken three steps forwards to stand in front of Kain, who tucks his hands into his pockets to watch them with half lidded eyes.

"It's such a lovely scent," he informs her. "The scent of your blood." The girls behind her shriek in happiness that he "said we smell nice", heedless of the mentions of blood or that way he hasn't yet even glanced in their direction. "Did you fall earlier? Because the scent I was talking about… was your blood."

His hand clamps around the wrist closest to him- the wrist leading to her injured hand. She makes an attempt to yank out of his grasp, and manages to jerk him slightly in place and his fingers slip, but his grip does not loosen. She uses her free hand to baton-twist Artemis and then swings at Aidou, who has begun to bend over her hand.

Artemis doesn't manage to connect before Aidou is grabbed by the collar and yanked backwards, though that doesn't prevent Aidou's nails from digging into her skin and creating a sizable gash from just to the side of her main artery and then to the meat of her thumb. She yelps loudly and draws her hand close to herself, immediately tucking it close to her torso and twisting it up inside of her jacket, Artemis crackling warningly with her pained surprise and mounting anger as she twists it up to brace against the back of her arm, rotating her hips so she's facing the vampires with her injury away from them.

"Knock that off," Kain scolds Aidou. Aidou licks the blood on his fingers, flashing his fangs and eyes glowing red, and Yuuki hears the girls behind her collapsing. Kain's eyes, very faintly luminous near his pupils, connect with her own and she can see wariness in them.

There's a rustle of leaves, and suddenly Zero is appearing next to her, one hand already extended outwards and pointing Bloody Rose at Aidou with an expression of frigid rage and disgust, standing just slightly in front of her.

"Drinking blood on school grounds is prohibited." He snarls, then, "getting drunk on the scent of blood and losing yourself to your nature, vampire?" Kain drops Aidou quickly and Yuuki shifts slightly to stand more to the side of Zero than behind him. She can tell he's really tempted to shoot Aidou, but so long as Aidou doesn't-

"It was only a taste."

She has barely a second to react, Artemis flashing upwards and hitting the underside of Bloody Rose's barrel, knocking his shot off course as the familiar sound of gunfire explodes into the air.

"Stupid, you can't just kill him!"

"Whoa, that was scary!" Aidou exclaims, his eyes wide and his body slightly hunched inwards. Yuuki lowers Artemis again and Zero levels Bloody Rose at the vampire again as Yuuki glances over toward where she can see the sigil glowing, Just barely a foot above Kain's head. Kain, himself, looks pale and somewhat shaken, probably having ducked and wove to avoid being shot when the gun had gone off in his direction.

"What the-"

"It's called "The Bloody Rose"," comes a familiar but somewhat unwelcome voice from towards the school building. Yuuki frowns and looks over to see Kaname approaching. A quick curious thought- _How does Kaname-nii know about Bloody Rose?-_ is shelved for later thought as he continues to speak and Zero lowers his arm. "You should be more careful, Aidou, it was made to kill creatures like us."

"Kuran…" Aidou murmurs with visible dread as Kaname seizes him by the collar in a way similar to what Kain had done.

"The chairman will need a full report of this incident, so I'll take care of these fools. Is that agreeable, Kiryuu?" Kaname asks, hefting Aidou slightly off the ground as the air gets tense, meeting Zero's frigid gaze.

"... Just get them out of my sight, Kuran."

"Kain." Kain jolts slightly, pointing at himself. "You are just as guilty as Aidou." He deposits Aidou behind him and Kain walks over there. "Yuuki, about the girls who fainted. Shall we take care of them too?"

"Ah, no. Thanks, Kaname-nii, but we'll take them to the chairman to have their memories modified." She casts the two collapsed girls a slightly sympathetic but mostly annoyed look.

"I see. Well, then… Sorry about this. I will make sure they know the errors of their ways." They walk off and Zero holsters Bloody Rose. She collapses Artemis and her hand, which had still been wrapped with her jacket inside of said jacket, gives a quick, painful throb as Zero grabs ahold of her forearm to give her injury a cursory look.

It's still sluggishly bleeding, and his expression darkens as he uses his free hand to loosen his tie. Yuuki watches in surprised silence as Zero wraps up her injury with said tie, then ties it off, tightening it with his teeth before releasing her.

"Come on. We have to get the girls to the chairman, and then we can get you some bandages." She probably needs stitches, actually, but she can't go to the nurse with an injury like this. She will deal with the inevitably terrible scab and pain. "It reeks of blood, here… I can't believe that they like this scent." She blinks and makes an experimental sniff, realizing that her blood really is saturating the air. It's just hers, so she hadn't realized. She watches Zero heft a girl up into a fireman carry, grasping the other in a princess hold, leaving her to trail behind him, cradling her hand close to her chest.

* * *

**This is the first omake, inspired by a quick trip around the Kingdom Hearts tag on tumblr, and that guest who left the long review and mentioned periods.**

**"SEA SALT ICE CREAM"**

The discovery was a complete accident, really. Zero had been trying to find a way to appease Yuuki's crazy salt cravings and her want for cold things- which had nearly led to Yuuki outright drinking soy sauce, which he had refused to let happen out of "moral duty". Yuuki didn't really get why he was so upset- she's perfectly healthy despite her salt intake, so why shouldn't she be allowed her favorite treats when she was bleeding out and in so much internal pain?

He had been in town for groceries, Yuuki with him but at a distance due to him bypassing her in the junk food aisle. He had left the shop a little early while she was in the check out lane, and had spotted an ice cream parlor several buildings away. A flash of memory- which he quickly suppressed- had led to Zero grabbing Yuuki upon her exit and towed her to the ice cream parlor.

They'd entered the shop, and Zero had realized his mistake once they were at the counter- there was a special going on, and it was for a blue popsicle-ish type of ice cream that they'd called "Sea Salt Ice Cream", and Yuuki had gone disturbingly starry eyed upon seeing it. She'd then bodily dragged Zero to the counter, ordered five of them (and a bowl of mint chocolate chip for Zero as an afterthought) and then sat down. She'd eaten three of them in less than so many minutes, and the next two in as much time.

She'd then gotten into an argument with the shop clerk that had nearly ended in tears (for the shop clerk) on where Yuuki could buy the ice cream in bulk, or get it delivered. They'd been kicked out before Yuuki could get her answers, and Yuuki had tramped through town with Zero holding their groceries and feeling a little helpless as she looked for another ice cream parlor. Finding another had taken a half hour, and then Yuuki had burst into angry tears upon finding that the parlor they'd been kicked out had been the only one in town to sell sea salt ice cream.

She'd gone home with Zero, still in tears, and Zero'd been graced with a look of complete disgust as he walked past Day Class students with a crying Yuuki gripping onto the back of his casual shirt as she stumbled along behind him. She'd been intermittently sniffling and then wailing about how much her cramps and back hurt, but witnesses had only seen the tears and heard incomprehensible wails.

They'd made it to the house, and Cross had practically teleported to the front door at the sound of Yuuki's cries, bundled her into the inside of the blanket he'd had wrapped around his body and demanded Zero tell him what had happened. Zero had explained the situation, feeling considerably out of his depth, and Cross had disappeared to his office with Yuuki and a stern glint in his gaze.

The next day, Zero had entered the kitchen to find Yuuki curled up in a kitchen chair, several popsicle sticks on the table, as well as the salt shaker and yet another sea salt ice cream in her grip. Cross had been sitting at the table across from her, watching her with a soft and fond but worried smile.

* * *

**And here's Yuuki's bio (that I really like and will therefore post).**

**Name**: Yuuki Cross (Kuran)

**Age**: 16

**Height**: 5'0", 152 cm

**Birthday**: December 24th (the day she was picked up by Kaname and brought to Cross' home).

**Moral Alignment:** True Neutral (would be Chaotic Good, but she only really goes out of her way for her chosen few people).

**Current Theme Quote**: "I can't exactly describe how I feel, but it's not quite right. And it leaves me cold." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

**Character Flaws**: Usually impulsive when implementing her plans (though said plans are usually good quality). Has a fear of abandonment/abandonment issues that were inherited through her past self that make her unwilling to challenge the status quo with her close people unless there is no other option, or it is causing harm somehow. Romantic or intimate-romantic situations make her uncomfortable/anxious. Is occasionally overwhelmed by powerful emotions, as she usually feels emotions in a more dulled way. Frequently lies to herself about her mental/emotional state and pretends that "everything is alright" and has a habit of acting in ways that are complimentary to others rather than the way she really wants to.

**Past Self:** Mostly unknown. A single amber eye and sallow skin are the only physically defining features remaining. Chaotic-Neutral alignment (will do what it takes to survive or be happy, does not really care about others or the consequences of her actions long term). Mildly-psychopathic (kept in-check by sheer force of will and her few bonds), and asexual. Has a lot of esoteric knowledge. Is being "eaten" by Yuuki's vampire self due to proximity, and will never be able to fully integrate with Yuuki due to this as well as because when she had been in the process of integrating last time, Juri's spell had fractured her consciousness and caused a large sense of self to go missing.

**Likes**: the excitement and adrenaline of a fight, salty food, winning, physical affection, Cross, Zero, Kaname, being strong, the color purple, protecting her precious people, being trusted.

**Dislikes**: violence just for the sake of violence, bullies, being unnecessarily singled out, being alone for too long, her weird dreams, lying/liars, when her precious people are unhappy/hurt, not understanding something, spicy foods.

**Fact**: Yuuki would have remembered her entire past life by the time she was seven if not for Juri's spell, but will never do so because of it.


	12. Second Night

**The omake at the end was what I had originally intended to put with the bio, but I hadn't finished it before I published the last chapter. So I've placed it here, instead. It _will _be marked as OMAKE so you will know where to skip if you would prefer to do so.**

**_xenocanaan, guest and _****_Valen Goncalvez, nice to see you!_**

**_lunarlegend11, the rant is fine, and thanks for the compliments! I appreciate that you're taking the time to review at all! I'm doing my best. I don't know about the anime, as I've never been able to watch it, but Zero biting Yuuki happens in the third chapter of canon, I think, and Shizuka appears in maybe the fourth volume? Haven't checked recently. Aidou confronts her in the fifth or sixth chapter I think, and the party is Ichijou's birthday and happens a little while after that. Rido is a good deal later, though. Good luck with your school work? I definitely sympathize. But, okay, so. Your questions._**

**_She calls Kaname "Kaname-nii" anytime she references him with him present, or with people who are not hostile towards him (for instance she calls him either Kaname or Kuran when talking about him with Zero). When I'm not writing dialogue I don't bother with the honorific because it can get kind of repetitive._** **_She started calling him tha_****_t in the latter half of the first evening_****_, as calling him "Kaname-sama" (as canon!Yuuki did) had seemed "off" to her_**_** and calling him "senpai" hasn't actually occurred to her.**_

**_The salt thing is more along the lines of a personality/taste quirk inherited from me. It isn't meant to have any deeper meaning, but Cross is worried about it because it's so much salt. Like, health problem inducing levels of sodium? Sorry if trying to rationalize that got complicated_**

_**About her past self, I can actually explain that, because it's probably not going to be addressed very well in story. So, that memory transfer via blood thing you mentioned? Viable, but not something I'm going to implement. That seems like it could get really messy, really fast. The memories are **_**not **_**salvageable, but since they're being absorbed into Yuuki's (currently sealed) vampire self, they're going to be subconsciously available, if that makes any sense? Once properly awakened, there's going to be a shift in how Yuuki perceives the world and people in general that can be attributed to this.**__** As she becomes more connected to her vampire side, it's going to get stronger and therefore require more feeding. To do that, it's going to eat her past self, and get even stronger, making it a cycle. Her past self's general knowledge and thoughtless skills (muscle memory or tasks so ingrained they can be done subconsciously) will be absorbed and thus accessible, but no personal memories.**_

* * *

Staring at the book in her lap with stalled thoughts and a painful feeling in her chest, Yuuki kind of feels like she wants to cry. On the page in front of her is the symbol of a "Tame Vampire".

It's also the symbol of Zero's tattoo. The one that she'd found so familiar when she had first seen it. Looking at it for a while longer, she can feel something terrible beginning in her stomach, ballooning outwards to choke her with its intensity, like a physical thing. Pieces of the puzzle that Zero had been revealing himself to be fall into the spotlight, emerging from wherever she'd shoved them in order to avoid them.

The unexplained blood on his neck that first night; Zero's insistence that he could "feel" that woman; his recent twitchy and standoffish behavior; how he had always known when she was hurt: Artemis' reactions to him (though she shies away from that thought, as it is connected to other things that she does not want to acknowledge); Kaname's remarks- about how Zero needed "medicine". He must have been referring to the blood tablets, which are shaped similarly to aspirin and could easily be mistaken for such if not for their distinctive serial codes.

The thought of blood tablets causes a small jolt to go through her, memory dragging itself further to the surface. Kaname telling Zero that he should take some medicine, but Zero insisting that he didn't need it. That he was fine. _Has Zero been starving himself? _Recalling his current food and water intake, another thought occurs to her. _Trying to supplement blood with food and water?_

As much as she hates the thought, she can kind of understand if so. Zero hates vampires, and so probably himself, by extension. The thought creates an immediate spike of anxiety piercing through that bubble of dread, confusion and sadness. Abandoning the old book to the side and momentarily sidetracking her "Zero is a vampire" epiphany/breakdown, she pushes off of her bed. Yuuki spares her clock a quick glance as she leaves her room- the time is 6 am.

She hasn't slept since maybe yesterday afternoon, which had been a nap lasting just under an hour. She's exhausted, but that isn't as important as this. And she's used to being tired, anyway. It isn't like she gets bags under her eyes.

Arriving in front of Zero's room, Yuuki cracks it open slightly. He's in bed, though she can't tell if he's actually asleep or not due to how dark his room is. She can see the glint of Bloody Rose on his bedside table, and she gets as quiet as she can, straining her senses to reach them into the room.

She can just barely hear his even breathing, and at first smells only Zero's standard scent, as well as his care kit for Bloody Rose. _He must have cleaned it just before bed._ But then she suddenly smells the scent of rotten flowers, sickly sweet with a hint of death, that is beginning to spread itself just beneath his own. She must have been subconsciously filtering it out, not wanting to acknowledge anything off or strange about Zero.

For an instant she contemplates waking him, confronting him about his secret he's been keeping from her. About how he has been suffering all by himself. Then reality comes crashing back and she remembers that this wasn't exactly something she'd been entitled to know. It's Zero's business, and he should have had that option to tell her that or not. He probably would not have told her, but she'd had no right to snoop like she had. Bringing it up would probably spark a terrible argument, anyways, and she has no idea how an honest argument with Zero would go.

Probably very badly.

Closing his door and backing away, Yuuki makes her way back to her room, collecting the books she'd been searching through and then heads to Cross' office. He's there when she arrives, looking over paperwork, and she hesitates. Cross hones in on her presence, however, and his head snaps up, looking confused but happy to see her. Until, anyways, he sees the books she's holding close to her chest. The titles are facing towards her body, but he must recognize them anyway, as his face becomes thoughtful and serious, his eyes seeming more sad than stern.

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd bring those back, Yuuki." She frowns a little and walks to the shelf she'd pulled the books from, slotting the books into the available gaps and wincing when the slowly healing injury on her hand twinges sharply. "I take it you found what you were looking for?"

She has so many questions. She wants to demand answers. Worry, curiosity and fear war in her head, but she remembers Cross' sincere words back when Zero had come home with the tattoo.

_"If Zero-kun wants to tell you, he will,_ _but_ I can't tell you."

Meeting his eyes with her own, Yuuki takes a moment to search them, analyzing what emotions she can see in them. There's sadness, resignation, some pride and, beneath all that, a firm resolution. She can tell he won't tell her anything, and so she can't bring herself to ask anything other than a mostly rhetorical question.

"He's starving, isn't he?"

He doesn't answer, just continues to watch her, though his sadness becomes even more pronounced. She wants to cry, to scream and get angry, to demand answers, but she doesn't. Her eyes water slightly anyways as she nods and leaves the room.

Cross doesn't call her back.

When she gets to her room, she closes her door and bursts into tears as quietly as she can.

* * *

"...Oh, no," Yuuki murmurs in dismay as she stares at the thick mob of Day Class students in front of the Moon Dorm gates from where she stands atop the wall. A quick check of her mental calendar reveals to her that the date is Valentine's Day, and she feels dread. "It's still morning, what are they _doing?_ They can't really be thinking to wait here all day for the Night Class, can they?"

From beneath her place on the wall, Zero tosses something up to her, small and metallic. Catching it reflexively, Yuuki discovers it to be a small whistle, her name scratched into the top. Blinking down at the head of silver hair and ruthlessly suppressing the lance of pain in her chest, she smiles slightly at his thoughtfulness.

The sound the whistle makes is startlingly loud and shrill, and Yuuki feels a brief flash of regret for blowing it so close to the probably-trying-to-sleep vampires, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Not that the whistle seems to have done more than make the mob pause momentarily before resuming their pushing and chattering.

"Classes are starting for Day Class students! All of you leave!"

Zero suddenly begins to walk to the left, the crowd parting easily for him, and Yuuki turns her attention that way to find what he'd seen. She immediately feels a little blind, as there's a girl with twin braids and glasses sitting on a boys shoulders, holding several dozen boxes of chocolates and attempting to reach the top of the wall.

"Hey, get down from there!" Yuuki hurries in that direction, but before she can get more than three steps, the girl is already tumbling backwards, the people in her fall path dispersing. "Ah! Someone-"

Zero manages to get beneath the girl just in time, catching her in a princess carry. He releases her almost instantly, and Yuuki can hear her quiet thanks. Zero's face gets gradually more angry, tension building as he begins in a low voice.

"I've said this a thousand times before…" Yuuki hops down from the wall as the mob grows still and quiet, Zero's voice carrying clearly. "Members of the Night Class _do not leave the Moon Dorms during daylight hours._ If you absolutely must give them your gifts, it will have to wait until dusk, which will be the standard event. If any of you pull this stunt again… I'll personally make sure that you're suspended from every single Valentine's Day event until you graduate." He threatens.

The threat isn't unexpected, and it's delivered expertly, if the paling faces and sudden whispering was anything to go by. For Yuuki, personally, it fell flat due to the fact that she knows Zero cannot actually forbid them from Valentine's events without Cross' permission. Which he was incredibly unlikely to attain, as Cross had already refused several times.

As the mass immediately begins to disperse, the girls among it complaining about Zero quite loudly. Yuuki trots to stand next to Zero and pats him solidly on the shoulders as he continues to radiate irritation.

"And you, once again, ruin any chance you could have had to get chocolates," she teases. He twitches and gives her a dark look.

"What should I have said?" He asks rhetorically, jamming his hands into his pockets. "It isn't as though we don't have a duty as school guardians."

"I see your point," she acknowledges, turning her attention to the Moon Dorm gates once more. "Are we going to patrol together, or split up?" She then asks, looking over at Zero and giving him the chance to be alone without lashing out. Lilac eyes turn in her direction despite his head and face being pointed elsewhere.

"Split up. You stay here, watch the gates," he instructs as he turns to disappear off into the trees to the left. Yuuki frowns thoughtfully at his back before huffing and making her way back atop the wall, settling down to sit and watch the path and nearby trees. They, as guardians, don't have to attend classes today due to the need for increased security.

From where she sits on the wall, Yuuki can't see any sign of Zero.

* * *

Cross is wearing all furs today, including a large, fluffy hat, and wearing sunglasses rather than his standard glasses. As Yuuki and Zero stand before his desk, having just gotten in to give him with report before they make their way back out for the switch over, he begins to speak.

"I know it's Valentine's Day. and that everyone has been buzzing with excitement, but you mustn't relax! It's become much more likely that something will go wrong, and for that reason, I expect the two of you to be more diligent than ever as guardians!" He tells them sternly, meshing his fingers together in front of him, elbows resting on the desk.

"We know," Yuuki smiles a little, though she's just slightly irritated that Cross had felt like they needed the reminder.

"I still think we should just ban it," Zero complains with an irritated sigh.

"But that would only inspire a revolt. It's best to give the students an outlet. After all," he lifts his hands in a 'what can you do?' gesture, grinning in a smug sort of way, "all my little vampires are so adorable! I could never be so cruel as to keep them from their devoted fans!"

The aura of disgust and malice that exploded out from Zero was nearly visible, and Cross looked away with a stiff smile, stalling in his praise of the vampires. As the man stands up to stare out his window in the direction of the Moon Dorms, Yuuki can tell that he's about to say something he knows they will not respond positively to.

"I understand that vampires have been enemies of humans for some centuries now, but there are vampires here who wish to co-exist with us peacefully. It's important to teach them to have pride in taking these first steps to bridge the divide between our two races. Kiryuu," Zero twitches in acknowledgement focusing more of his attention onto Cross as Yuuki's mood begins to preemptively sour. "Even though you may think it's impossible now… Someday, I want you to understand that."

Zero doesn't say anything, his face darkening as he looks away from Cross. Seeing that Cross was gearing up to pick even further at the wounds he knows are there and still bleeding even now, Yuuki seizes ahold of Zero's hand. Feeling an ache throbbing in her chest, empathy nearly driving her to helpless tears once more, she clenches her jaw as she makes her way out of the building.

"Yuuki?" Zero's hand flexes in her own, and Yuuki can hear his concern and slight confusion. "Is something wrong?" Zero's fingers wrap slightly around her wrist.

"No," she lies. "Nothing."

He doesn't reply or ask anything further, seeming content to simply allow Yuuki to pull him along, despite the fact that they both know she's lying. When they make it outdoors, however, his hand twitches and he jerks away from her. Pausing, Yuuki turns to see Zero palming his face before his hand drifts down to his neck.

"Zero?"

"I'm fine." He doesn't meet her eyes, and Yuuki can't see anything wrong with his, but that doesn't prevent her instinctive unease.

* * *

Staring at the stalls and masses of people. Yuuki can't really believe that Cross Academy has so many students. She also can't help but be grateful that the Day Class is not always so enthusiastic, as if this many students appeared during every switch over, she would have probably been trampled to death ages ago.

The orderliness is sort of galling, though, as it shows that they're unnecessarily rowdy on normal days.

Glancing at Zero on her right, she's incredibly grateful that he bothered to show up. If she'd been alone in this, it would definitely be very stressful. Turning to look at the opening gates, she spot Senri uncharacteristically in the lead, looking simultaneously distressed and resigned as, just behind him, Aidou bounces in childish excitement and Kain yawns. Takuma offers her a wave when she accidentally meets his eyes, and Kaname gives her a small nod in greeting. Frowning uneasily at the sight of Aidou, she inhales to gear herself up.

Distantly, she hears Senri's quiet, "I'm in hell."

"Okay, so as you all know, this is the traditional Valentine's Day event. All of you have to walk to the stalls with your name, and once there, the students in line will give you their chocolates. Please stay calm and cooperate with one another, so we can do this as quickly and easily as we can." Seeing Aidou beginning to nearly vibrate, she hurriedly continues. "Understand? Keep in mind that this isn't a game! This means a lot to the day class!" She insists sternly.

"Aidou, apparently forgetting right away or having deliberately ignored her, rushes forward towards his stall with a childish squeal. "Mine! They're all mine!"

"Aidou." Said boy freezes in place at Kaname's neutral toned reprimand. "Remember your manners. Understand?"

"Yes, dorm leader," Aidou agrees in a weak voice. From where Yuuki is standing, she sees a stiff expression on Aidou's face. Senri and Kain are among the first to begin walking once more.

"This is moronic," Senri complains. Yuuki glances over and spots that Rima is currently absent. Frowning, she runs her eyes over the group of vampires and finds the orange haired girl in the back of the group, as normal.

"Just do it anyway," Kain tells Senri. The boy then stops near Aidou not actually going to his gate, and Yuuki hurriedly makes her way to his stall to stop those in his line from rushing the Night Class and disrupting the current peace.

"Ah," Kaname's voice draws her attention away from the loudly complaining girls, and Yuuki turns to see him holding maybe seven boxes in varying sizes. "Sorry everyone… I can't hold anymore than this." Those in his line bow frantically in apology, which she doesn't really understand. "I really am very sorry."

As he turns to walk further down the path, Yuuki catches sight of his expression, which seems very tired.

"Thank you for everything, Yuuki." She meets his eyes, watching him smile a little at her, and she offers him a reflexive smile in return. The girls directly in front of her fall still and silent.

"Oh, it's no problem!"

"Try not to get hurt." He calls as he walks away. Kain then walks past and the girls surge forwards into her. Zero appears behind her and prevents her from hitting the concrete, but in doing so digs his fingers into the wound on her hand. There's a sharp sting of pain beneath the bandages and she yelps as he releases her before disappearing just as quickly as he'd appeared. Yuuki doesn't have much time to search for him, as she catches sight of Aidou getting handsy with a girl in his line.

"-Blood type?" She overhears as she makes her way over. She hurries forward. Distantly, she wonders why Zero hasn't already intervened.

"That's not allowed!" She shouts, shoving herself between them and forcing Aidou backwards. "All you can take are chocolates and feelings!" She scolds, chivying the girl away.

It's twenty minutes before all the vampires have gone to school and ten more until Yuuki has managed to corral all the Day Class students to their appropriate dorms. She spends the next half hour running a quick patrol by herself before trying to make her way towards the house rather than the dorms. She's pretty sure Zero disappeared to the house or Cross' office, and while seeing him is at least partially her motivation, she also wants to take a nice, long shower and the Dorms only allow for ten minutes before they get cold or shut off.

She makes it halfway there before hearing a group of girls nearby. With a long sigh, she turns and makes her way in that direction instead.

_How tiring_.

* * *

Her braid almost completely undone, held together only by the tangles that had developed as it unraveled, her feet bare and her button up and school jacket having been discarded in her room, Yuuki makes her way tiredly towards the bathroom. Tucked beneath her arm is her pajamas and in the pocket of her skirt is a small piece of chocolate that she had found abandoned earlier in the day, marked with a tag that claimed it had been for Kaname.

She's given up on the idea of a shower, her feet much too sore, but the idea of a bath sounds really, really nice. Opening the bathroom door and flipping on the light when she notices the pitch darkness, she jumps a little in surprise, almost dropping her clothes. _Well, I guess I was right?_

Zero is sitting against a wall, a towel draped across his shoulders and wearing only his pajama pants. Pausing to look him over, absently allowing the bathroom door to close behind her, Yuuki notes that his towel is mostly dry despite its location, and he looks nearly catatonic once more. Or maybe he's just sad? With his blank expression, it's hard to tell.

Sinking down to the floor, her knees tucking up against her chest as she discards her clothes off to the side, Yuuki cranes her head to the side and studies his face worriedly. He's dripping quite a bit, meaning he probably hasn't been out of the shower long, and she can't see any soap, so he at least bathed correctly. She pops upwards a bit and finds his shirt nearby, and makes a decision.

Her knees press against the floor and she reaches out, lifting the towel. He blinks sluggishly as she presses it against his hair and begins to rub over the shiny strands. "You'll catch a cold if you don't dry your hair, but you seem pretty out of it, so I'll help." She offers him a small, worried smile as she finishes his hair and then pats down his torso and what she can reach of his back despite it being pressed against the wall.

She has to stand briefly to grab his shirt from atop the sink, and when she does so, she tosses the towel into the hamper. Turning back, she manages to drape the shirt over his back and shoulders before realizing that due to his non-responsiveness now, getting him actually into the shirt might be a little difficult. Not that she minds, exactly, as this isn't the first time she's had to help him when he becomes non-responsive, but she just wishes she didn't need to do so.

"C'mon, Zero," she coaxes, trying her luck. "All you have to do is get your arms into the sleeves." At his continued stillness, she shifts and moves to manhandle the arm opposite her into its sleeve, having to push one of his legs aside and nearly climb into his lap to get into the correct position to have the leverage she needs. Once that arm is through, she returns to her previous position and forces his other arm into its sleeve, then buttons up his shirt over his chest. As she sits back on her heels, something presses against her leg in her pocket, making her frown a little and dig in her skirt pocket before two memories jump to her attention.

The first being the memory of finding the chocolate, and the second being a memory of some girls in her class. One had been complaining about cramps and being sad, and the other girl with her had recommended chocolate. She hadn't understood then, and she still doesn't now, as chocolate has never appealed to her, but she figures it's worth a shot as she pulls the chocolate out of her pocket and pulls the ribbon of the wrapper, figuring that Zero will not be up to doing so.

"Here, a chocolate for you," she explains to Zero, holding it up in front of his face. His eyes actually widen slightly, his pupils flexing. "I didn't make it, so don't get any funny ideas, but I've heard that chocolate is good for people who are sad." She offers him a smile she hopes is comforting, and presses it against his lips when he does nothing but stare at her with slightly widened eyes and a blank expression. It takes a few moments of insistent pressure before he lets her push it into his mouth, and she watches with satisfaction as he actually chews and swallows it.

Settling down next to Zero on the floor and lifting one of his arms, she presses herself against the side of his torso, draping the limb over her shoulders and neck to hide them from his sight. Yuuki says nothing about the blood tablets scattered all over the bathroom floor.

* * *

**OMAKE**

**_This omake has line breaks due to time skips and length. There's also a significant perspective shift._**

_"So yeah, I died. Sad, sad, sob, sob. Who cares? The part I was most concerned about was when _I woke up."

_LeftNotRight, The Baker's Daughter_

It's sort of painful to watch the girl as she goes about her life, innocent and so very _dumb_. Really, it's shocking that she used to be a part of me. Glancing down at the casket at the bottom of the pond and staring at the "sleeping" seven year old girl inside, I frown. She's starting to look a lot like Kaname around the mouth, and with her hair getting so long, she's growing to resemble Juri as well. Mostly in the eyes and the hair, thankfully, as I'm not quite sure how I'd feel if she started to exhibit Juri's old habit of flipping emotions at the drop of a hat. Her coloring is almost the exact same as Kaname's and Juri's, though, the only differences created due to her "humanity" dulling the natural wine red of her eyes and the similar coloring of her hair.

I'm positive she's noticed her resemblance to Kaname already, but I can tell she's resisting thinking about it.

Turning my attention away from the pond, I stare at my hands. There's pieces of myself missing, and when I reach over to run one of my remaining fingers along my left forearm, I'm rewarded by the sound of glass grinding against glass before particles drift up and away from me before being drawn into the pond, feeding the sleeping vampire in its depths.

I'm only a quarter myself, and fading rather quickly. I know that much, despite not really remembering much of my life from before being born into the body of Yuuki Kuran, which I no longer am in control of and probably will never control again. I'd tried to merge with the tiny girl when she was little, but Juri had cast that spell, and it had fractured me in the same instant that it had cut Yuuki away from her vampire self and old memories.

All that's left of me is shards of memory held together by a powerful will, and even that memory thing is iffy. I remember empty rooms, hiding in closets to cry, an unending loneliness and then perpetual chaos as I went out of control to distract myself from the hole in my chest. I can't remember what I looked like, beyond amber eyes, and I can't remember any other faces or names. My last memory is of that hospital room, and the encompassing cold, and that memory is hazy at best from the drugs that had been in my system at the time.

Sighing, I recline into the grass, staring up into the dark sky for awhile before closing my eyes and drifting into something like sleep.

* * *

Yuuki is twelve when she finds her way into the center of Juri's spell. It wakes me up immediately, because she is really _not supposed to be here. _Jerking into a stand, I stare as she approaches the pond, faint bubbles appearing along its edges as something moves within it.

_Oh, this isn't good_ I realize as Yuuki's feet begin to blacken and her hair begins to drift into particles of its own accord the longer she is looking into the water.

"Not now," I scold her as I walk forwards, momentarily forgetting all about my fracturing appearance as she turns, whip fast, and her face contorts into something like terror. "It's too early for you to be here right now." If she breaks the spell by herself, or without being properly prepared for it, her mind could shatter, or she could simply die. There's a shaking shudder that goes through Yuuki, her reddish-brown eyes wide, and she seems to glitch slightly in place before I see her take a step back toward the pond water, probably subconsciously.

Lunging forward, she vanishes just before I can catch her and I manage to catch myself just at the edge of the pond. I stare into its depths as the casket floats maybe five feet from the water's surface, the girl inside wide "awake".

"You can't come out, yet," I warn her as I sit down at the side of the pond. She stares at me with confusion, and I frown. "Can you even understand me?"

_"I'm hungry,"_ is the only garbled reply I receive. I sigh and look down to my hands before dragging one rough palm across my forearm, dissolving a portion of it to go into the pond. The girl's eyes widen and flare a bright red before I'm rewarded with a confused and worried look. "Who are you?"

"I don't know," I shrug. "I was almost you, though. But then you were sealed away and that other girl took our place." The girl doesn't say anything more, and I don't mind, as I recline back against the ground once more. Periodically, pieces of my "self" drift off to the vampire a few feet away, but I don't let it bother me. It isn't as though it's a new thing, though it's happening a little faster than I'm used to. Eventually, as I lose an entire finger to the voracious girl, I ask,

"Are you less hungry now?"

I don't receive a reply.

* * *

The girl presses her palms flat against the glass top of the casket, the glass cracking sharply before it is repaired, as she and I watch Yuuki as she looks at the Moon Dorms.

_"Nii-sama is_ in there," she mumbles longingly, prompting me to look in her direction. Her eyes are glowing again, tears streaking down her cheeks. _Oh, this is the first time she's been so close to seeing him since the sealing, isn't it?_

"Yeah," I hum in reply, shifting slightly as more of my right leg disappears. I have most of both legs right now, but my right is missing up to the knee, my left toes gone.

It isn't until later that either of us feel the need to speak again, and it's because of the red miasma beginning to invade Yuuki's mind- a product of the scent of blood, and her emotional turmoil. Due to the vampire's enhanced senses and my connection to both her and Yuuki, we are both able to tell more from the scent than Yuuki, who has only just noticed the scent.

"Is that Kaname?" I murmur.

_"He's…"_ The vampire trails off into a pained whining-keen sound as Yuuki approaches the door. The scent gets stronger, and I have only a few seconds before it will be too late.

_"Don't!"_ I yell, trying to get through to the girl. _"Don't go there! Leave!"_ Yuuki isn't ready for that type of cruelty from Kaname, no matter how he feels. She only has the emotional maturity of a particularly logical nine year old, despite her 14 years of age. He's supposed to be her older brother and protect her, but he's trying to hurt her out of spite, because of something she can't control?

I'm rewarded with Yuuki turning and leaving. The vampire and I keep a weather eye on Akatsuki Kain as we move past him, and can see his gaze on Yuuki despite her back being turned.


	13. Third Night

**So I'm thinking that I **_do _**sort of have an update schedule. I've been posting at least once a week on Mondays? Now that we're on canon that should be sustainable, with a chapter occasionally midweek if the chapter is exceptionally short or I blitz through it**** like I did with this chapter. (Which practically wrote itself? I've been waiting for this chapter!)**** There's swearing in this chapter, and no omake.**

**Any guesses to the relationship dynamics I'm developing? I'm curious if I'm being subtle.**

**_Valen Goncalvez, did you copy and paste? _Suspicious.**

**_xenocanaan, thanks!_**

**_pendora59, always nice to see you! Thanks for the feedback and I'm glad not to disappoint!_**

* * *

"Eh?" Yuuki blinks sleepily at the angered face of her teacher. "Extra classes? But I'm passing just fine." She manages to suppress a yawn, knowing that doing so would really not endear her to her already irritated teacher. In response to her protest, he lifts her last math test, revealing a 58% marked in red at the top. She stares at it uncomprehendingly for a moment before squinting slightly, studying it more intently.

It takes her a few moments to discovers the source of her abnormally poor grade to be her teacher having graded her paper somewhat stingily. She'd written down her entire process for every question, but had forgotten to actually write her final answer clearly every time. Sighing, she resigns herself to at least retaking the entire test as the class begins to empty.

"Hey, Yuuki." Zero's call is accompanied by a gentle tug on her braid at the base of her neck. She turns in her seat to look at him, and feels a shot of worry when she sees how pale his face is. She can't tell if he's clammy or anything like that, as other than his paleness and slightly pinched features, he seems mostly fine.

"Zero?" He continues as soon as she's definitively acknowledged him, releasing her braid and beginning to walk towards the classroom doors.

"I'm going now. Finish quickly and join me," he bids. Yuuki settles a little more firmly into her seat with a quiet huff, her arms coming up to cross in front of her chest as the teacher approaches with her new test paper. He's looking to where Zero has disappeared as though he really wants to call him back as well, but Zero is somehow always on top of his work and tests, and so he can't justify keeping him behind. Not like he can with Yuuki, who occasionally wanders off track in essays, forgets to be clear on tests and occasionally forgets to turn in homework entirely.

* * *

Making her way across school grounds, Yuuki frowns as she searches out Zero. He hadn't been on the typical patrol routes, or hanging out on any of the roofs they usually occupy, and she's starting to get worried. Nearby, she hears some voices, and she turns in that direction.

"The school?" Her eyes flick to the sky, coming across pitch darkness interrupted only by a full moon. _"The Night Class?"_ She begins to trot over, Artemis dropping into one hand, though not yet extending. It's either the Night Class, or some Day Class students. She only hopes that Zero is there, so she'll know where he is, finally.

"...is Kaname so interested in that human?" Comes a feminine voice. Yuuki slows down and realizes that the event is taking place beneath a small overhang near the back of the school. There's maybe a dozen vampires out of class, and Zero is standing in the center of them, Bloody Rose drawn and tucked to linger just beneath the girls chin. "I can't stand it," Souen continues, now identifiable.

"There's no point in getting jealous, Ruka," Kain drawls, walking close to linger behind Souen. Yuuki internally flails a little before deciding to scale a nearby pillar, doing so quickly to gain a height advantage to watch all of the vampires at once, though her angle prevents her from seeing Zero's face. There's a slight shadow cast on the ground, but if any of the vampires notice it, they show no sign. "If Kaname finds out about this, he'll be furious."

Souen's face sours even more, and Kain circles completely around her to reach for Zero's arm, looking wary and moving slowly.

"Kiryuu, you should probably put this away," he tells Zero, who visibly stiffens as Kain gets closer. Yuuki can tell that he's already on edge due to being surrounded, and probably still holding a grudge for the attempted attack from a week or so ago- her hand twinges in memory, despite being almost totally healed. Zero's free arm reaches over to grab Kain by the upper arm, his feet shifting, and Yuuki wants to snort as she recognizes the movement.

Kain goes flying over Zero's shoulders, slamming into the ground and looking considerably dazed. Among the Night Class, someone comments, "that was so uncool."

"Shut up," Kain complains, sitting up slowly and turning his attention to Zero with a still somewhat startled face, standing after a second of Zero not trying to smite him.

"So… Kaname Kuran is the reason why you've suddenly all decided to gang up on me and take me down?" Zero asks, his tone bland before it changes unrecognizably. It sounds eager for a fight, for violence. "I'd like to see you try, vampires. I've been waiting for a chance like this."

"Hey!" Yuuki shouts, jumping down off the pillar and landing behind Zero, Artemis extending and blocking the kick from a vampire that had decided to take Zero up on his offer. Her mind wheels for a second for a reason to dissuade the vampires, or even just Zero, as she's pretty sure neither of them, even together, can fight 13 vampires, some of whom are aristocrats and therefore have powers. "Fighting is against the rules, it's stated in the student handbook," she finally settles on, Artemis baton twirling in one hand before she uses a few fingers from that hand to pull on her Guardian cuff. "So regardless of whether it's Zero inviting a fight, or you of the Night Class picking one, I will not allow this to continue!"

"Look, can't we just drop this already?" Kain asks Souen, looking considerably more worried and reluctant. Souen glares at Yuuki for a moment, petulant, before huffing.

"Fine. It's not worth it, anyways… Let's go back to class," she calls. The Night Class members out begin to file back into the school, and once they're gone, Yuuki collapses Artemis once more, though she does not re-holster her weapon as she turns her attention to Zero.

"Zero, what's going on?" She finally asks, ignoring the dark look on his face. "You can't just go picking fights with so many vampires at once! Do you have a death wish?" Zero doesn't answer her, turning to walk away from her, and she takes a few steps after him, reaching out and touching his shoulder.

"Leave me alone," Zero denies, jerking harshly away from her and avoiding turning his face in her direction. Yuuki frowns at his back as he strides away, hesitating on whether to follow or not. She desperately wants to do so, wants things to go back to how they used to be, when she could poke and fight Zero, could make him carry her places when she was too tired to make the effort.

He's long gone from sight when she makes her decision, but it isn't that hard to follow his tracks. He doesn't really have too many places to go, and so she manages to pursue him into the faculty building. There's a heavy step on the stairs, and she turns in that direction, a bad feeling in the air leaving her to keep Artemis in her grasp rather than put it away as she usually does indoors. She heads down a flight of stairs, and sees slight scratches in the banister to her right.

"Zero?" She calls as she pivots and looks downwards toward the end of the next flight, where Zero stands, hunched and breathing harshly.

"I begged you to stay away from me, Yuuki," Zero strains. Pausing in place, Artemis extends in her grasp with hardly any prompting, the air filled with something she can't quite explain but that unsettles her. A hand lashes out and grabs onto the end of Artemis as soon as she takes a step forward, yanking the flashing metal and dragging her closer, one hand lashing out to grip onto her injured wrist. Artemis goes flying out of her hand as his nails dig into the remains of wound, her nerves seizing as her other hand scrambles to compensate, but Zero is pivoting her and Artemis fumbles out of her grip completely as he moves behind her.

The hand clutching her injured wrist loosens, and her free hand is caught in it instead as he uses that arm to press her close to his body, his other hand pushing aside her collar and the chain of her necklace. She has a second to move, and she uses it as best as she can, one foot stomping down and her other hand arcing upwards. Her angle is off, and her elbow to the throat fails, her arm continuing momentum and the back of her forearm smashing into his nose. The noise Zero makes is animalistic and angry, and his teeth dig deep into the side of her wrist, sending blinding pain zinging through her arm and sending her thoughts into a mad scramble as her own teeth reflexively sink into her cheek and tongue to prevent the scream that almost tears itself out of her.

She tries to escape his grasp but his body seems locked in place, and some of the blood from her wrist escapes Zero's lips, dripping hot onto the skin of her neck and the shoulder of her blazer, trailing down her front and into her clothes. It's painful, and she can hear the sound of him swallowing, but tears won't come and she's pretty sure she's in shock.

She'd known he was a vampire- or, at least, becoming one. Known he was starving, blood tablets scattered in places where she'd been finding him catatonic, or in rooms he had destroyed. There was a difference, it seemed, between knowing and _knowing_. And she had learned it the hard way, having underestimated Zero in a clutch moment.

In her head she can feel herself trying to rationalize this while her emotions battle for dominance beneath the hazy film of shock. Her heart is beating loudly and quickly in her ears and Zero continues to swallow, his intake probably helped along by the organ pushing her blood faster through her veins.

Another pull of her blood makes her vision actually blacken at the edges and a surge of strength gives her the ability to ignore the pain of ripping her wrist out of his mouth, his teeth not wanting to relinquish their hold. She quickly wraps her wrist in the bottom of her jacket, knowing she will continue to hemorrhage blood even as she puts pressure on the wound, wishing dearly that she could lift Artemis but knowing that if she lifted her hand from her wrist, she just might die. Swiveling in place, she stares at Zero as she begins to back toward the stairs leading upwards.

Zero's eyes are glowing a fierce and familiar red, his face, neck and upper chest covered in her blood. As she watches, he swipes a hand across his mouth, tongue licking the back of his hand seemingly unconsciously as it passes. He's breathing in heavy breaths, and his face creases with pain as his eyes meet hers.

"Yuuki…?" Her legs want to collapse out from under her, but her will manages to prevent them from doing so, adrenaline fueled strength still flooding her veins as her heart continues to jackhammer. "I'm sorry…" His eyes move away from hers. "I…" He takes a step forwards and the glow of his eyes fades away, and she knows that she would have flinched if not for that. Zero is back in control of himself, now, no longer succumbing to the vampire that had growled so angrily when she tried to escape him.

There's a footstep above them, and Yuuki turns her body slightly to look at the top of the stairs, unwilling to turn her head and bare her throat or turn her back on Zero right now, finding Kaname there. His eyes are wide and as he approaches, he seems to be momentarily confused.

"Yuuki?" She meets his eyes, feeling a pit in her stomach as she realizes that things are about to get a whole lot worse. As his eyes flick over her face, his eyes glow slightly and his expression changes into disgusted anger. "I see."

A hand lashes across her chest, pushing her behind him as he stands to face Zero, who hadn't looked away from her once. "So you've finally fallen to the blood lust of beasts, Zero Kiryuu." She has maybe a second to react, a strong feeling of _déjà vu_ telling her that Kaname will kill Zero before she moves. Her injured wrist is jerked free of her jacket and she ducks beneath Kaname's arm, instinct having her throw her arms wide in an effort to block Kaname from Zero, to protect him from the attack Kaname has not yet made.

Her blood spatters in an arc onto the front of Kaname's uniform and the walls of the stairwell, and dizziness has her collapsing immediately backwards. Zero catches her, she can tell, his hands beneath her arms and pressing against her ribs tightly. For an instant her vision goes black, but she forces her eyes open, fear and desperation keeping her conscious as all her adrenaline begins to drain away.

"Yuuki!" Zero gasps. Kaname takes a step forwards towards Zero, and Yuuki feels a strike of fear that he will not heed her unspoken plea, that he will kill Zero anyways.

"Your blood lust must have been insatiable, to have drained her so much that she can't stand," Kaname comments, his eyes still angry but his voice and face calmer from what Yuuki can see through the tiny gap in her mostly closed eyes. He reaches out and collects her out of Zero's grip, lifting her into a princess carry and situating her arm against her stomach, blood still flowing from the wound resulting in a quickly growing, hot pool. "Yuuki's blood… Tell me, was it really that delicious?"

Her head rolls slightly and she is able to see that Zero has lifted one blood covered hand in front of him, his lips slightly parted and his eyes soft embers, not as vivid as before but the red nevertheless obvious. Kaname's grip on her tightens slightly and he shifts so her head rolls back towards his chest and shoulder, turning to head up the stairs, his eyes momentarily connecting with Zero's and flaring a vivid, furious red before he turns completely away and the red dims.

From where she is, though Yuuki is able to see that the red has not actually left his eyes at all, just dimmed so it is no longer luminous. It is not something she would have noticed unless they had glowed at all, as his eyes are naturally reddish, but not she can see that the red is more solid now, less interrupted by facets of brown or black.

As Kaname walks up the stairs, reaching the top, Yuuki sees Cross standing there.

"Chairman…" Kaname begins to speak, not slowing even slightly in his walk.

"I know," he acknowledges in a grim voice, his eyes hard. Yuuki is fairly sure she blacks out, as between blinks she is first in Kaname's arms and then she is in a chair in the infirmary, Kaname crouched in front of her and wrapping gauze around her mostly healed wrist.

"I'm sorry I cannot heal it completely, Yuuki," he apologizes, not meeting her eyes as he runs a gentle thumb over the stark white fabric. "Healing is not something I am practiced in."

"Ah, it's alright," she manages to accept after a slight pause to let the words get past the muzziness of blood loss. "Thank you for healing me at all." He looks her in the eyes then, releasing her wrist and planting both of his palms against her knees.

"Are you afraid of vampires, now?" He asks intently. She blinks, eyes slightly wide, and pushes back her instinctive head shake to think over his answer. She doesn't want to lie about something like this, and knowing the answer would probably be important for her as well. She can't avoid this.

"I think…" She begins, tongue heavy and words slightly slurring together but coherent, "I'm-"

A tap at the door frame calls their attention over, revealing Cross standing there, expression serious. "Kaname, can you go back to the classroom for awhile? The Night Class is getting restless with so much blood in the air." Kaname squeezes her knees slightly before standing with a quiet,

"Alright."

Cross makes his way over, dragging a chair over and sitting down in front of her. One hand reaches out and grasps at her injured wrist gingerly.

"I took Zero to his room, and he's calmed down now," Cross tells her quietly. "Do you want to go home, or head to the dorms?" Her eyes meet his and she sees gentle sadness in them. Her shock fades and tears start to pool in the edges of her eyes. His own eyes widen and he releases her to open his arms invitingly, making soft comforting noises as she climbs into his lap and wraps her arms around his waist. The blankets he always has around himself wrap around her completely as she huddles close and she's enveloped in warm darkness as she starts to cry, her tears beyond her control as everything spills over.

* * *

Sitting next to Yori the next day, Yuuki twirls her pencil in her uninjured hand as the teacher lectures, her mind spinning through yesterday's events and digs up thoughts she had thought she'd buried. Yuuki had spent hours in Cross' grasp and had eventually fallen asleep. When she had woken up, Zero's room had been empty and Cross had told her that he'd relocated to the dorms after he'd woken, and that he would not be attending classes today.

"You're more awake than normal," Yori finally comments under her breath as she takes notes. "Does it have to do with why Zero is absent today?"

"Ah, slightly?" She admits, startled. Yori gives her the look that poor answer deserves and Yuuki shrugs a little. "I'm not completely sure why he's missing today, but last night something happened that probably has something to do with it."

Yori stares at her for a moment, her eyes flicking downwards to the gauze peeking from inside her sleeve. Yuuki feels her blood draining from her face and Yuuki's lips press into a slight frown as she pulls the sleeve down, not explaining the silent question. Yori's eyes bore into her own before she turns her attention back to the teacher, seemingly finished with the questioning.

Yuuki can almost physically feel the lack of Zero's presence behind her, and she falls back into her thoughts as something in particular digs itself up, having been pushed back that first night she'd discovered Zero's status and had to reassure herself that he was still alive...

_Zero hates vampires, especially those who attack indiscriminately. He would probably prefer if they all died. That… probably includes himself, as well._

… That he hadn't killed himself when she wasn't looking.

The memory strikes like lightning and Yuuki wouldn't be able to stop herself if she tried, jerking into a stand and causing the teacher to grind to a halt as the entire classroom turns to her. She ignores his demands for her to sit back down, abandoning her things and jumping onto the desk and then vaulting over the person in front of her to land on the next one down. There's a great ruckus as she repeats this until she's out the door that she also ignores, panic igniting through her bloodstream.

She runs faster than she actually thought herself capable of doing as she moves for the male Sun Dorm, bypassing the security who make to stop her before recognizing her amd deciding that they were better off pretending to have not seen her at all.

She throws open the door to Zero's dorm room, finding him placing the barrel of Bloody Rose against the side of his head, the safety of the gun off. Icy terror flooding in and sending her lunging across the distance between blinks, impacting with Zero and sending them slamming against the wall behind his bed, one hand wrenching Bloody Rose out of his hand. It flares into painful sparks in her grasp, never having liked her, but she ignores that long enough to throw the weapon across the room, the flimsy chain that had connected it to Zero's belt loops snapping with the force. She's almost entirely on top Zero's lap between seconds, all this happening almost too fast for Yuuki to completely comprehend it, her legs on either side of one of his own and one arm around his neck to press him close to her in an instinctual move.

Zero's eyes are wide, his face a picture of surprise.

"What the hell were you doing?!" She demands, her panic and the aftershocks of her terror still scrambling her brain. Zero's face melts into a look that she recognizes as him trying to seem stoic and strong, but she can see the resignation and shock still in his eyes when she pulls back to stare him in the face.

"Nothing."

"Liar! The safety is off," she denies fiercely. He remains silent for a moment before,

"Why did you doing here, Yuuki?" He finally asks. She blinks in surprise and Zero arches upwards and rotates, slamming her against his bed and planting one hand on her shoulder, the other pressing against the pulse in her neck. She goes still, the pressure of his hand light but instinctually terrifying.

_"Let go!"_ Comes a furious scream in the back of her mind, the voice startlingly clear before it devolves into incoherent insistence and snarling.

"This…" Zero's eyes leave her face and focus on her throat. "Don't you get it? So long as I hear this, you'll never be safe around me." His gaze doesn't move from there, and Yuuki takes what seems like his distraction to wiggle Artemis up into her palm, the rod extending directly into Zero's side, just beneath his ribs, with all the force she's able to coax the rod into using, the bed used as a brace. Zero's eyes widen and he chokes, tumbling off the bed with a strangled sound.

Yuuki immediately pushes to her feet, twirling Artemis over her head for an instant as indignant anger pushes up from an unidentifiable source, before she brings it crashing downwards. Zero's eyes widen further in surprise and he rolls aside, Artemis impacting where his torso had just been and cracking through the wooden floor of his dorm room with the sound of splintering wood. Yuuki continues her warpath, hefting Artemis back out and swinging horizontally at Zero, as using a hammer, with all the force she can. Zero barely manages to bring an arm up to block the strike from connecting with his shoulder.

His eyes widen, though, as instead of stopping, Artemis maintains momentum, making Zero curve around the impact and tumble to the ground, his shoulder being jarred into dislocation with the strike. He does not manage to get up the nerve to move again at Yuuki's next strike, and Yuuki notices, just barely managing to reel back her strike to only knock him unconscious and maybe give him a concussion rather than killing him, which that attack might have done had it connected with full force.

Zero is knocked unconscious on his floor, and Yuuki feels all of her anger drain out of her at once, using Artemis at a brace as she stands in front of Zero's unconscious body for a moment, slightly dizzy. She's not at 100% from all the blood loss last night, it seems. With a sigh and heave of effort, she collapses Artemis and reholsters it, walking across the room and picking up Bloody Rose. It sparks harshly against her palm and she ignores it, dropping it into the pocket of her blazer and then looking her palm over.

There's the beginnings of burns, like she'd grabbed onto a heated pan, but it's negligible. They'd be healed by tomorrow afternoon naturally, sooner if Kaname somehow sees them. Yuuki makes her way back to Zero, peering at his face, and decides that he's not likely to wake up any time soon. So she closes his room door, and then turns to go and sit on his bed, blinking in surprise at the bag left on it.

With a frown of dismayed irritation, she throws it back into his closet. There's no way she's going to let him just leave. For one, he's only 16. Two, he's currently a _vampire_, and she's almost completely sure that he's suicidal because of that. You don't just leave suicidal people to their own devices, no matter what. Looking over at Zero, she notices that he's wearing his tie poorly in the exact second that she realizes that he's probably not likely to listen to anything she has to say to him.

She unties her ribbon and reaches for his tie.

* * *

It's about twenty minutes before Zero wakes up, visibly dazed and off balance. His hands pull from where she's tied them rather securely with their ties behind his back, and his eyes open wide as soon as he registers that he's restrained.

Yuuki is standing across from his downed form, Artemis on one hand and Bloody Rose in the other, having negotiated with the gun for permission to at least hold it (and felt stupid the entire time) about Zero's current mental state and the necessity of such a thing. As soon as he meets her eyes, both weapons spark ominously in her grasp, though she is not hurt in the process. The blue light lights the darkened room eerily.

"Zero Kiryuu," she intones in as emotionless a voice she can manage before her face breaks into a furious expression. Bloody Rose stops sparking, though Artemis seems to get more intense, lighting the room up even further and bringing Zero into light. "I don't know why you're so intent on leaving me behind, but I'm not just going to let you go! You're my best friend, and I refuse to allow it!"

Zero stares at her with an expression like stupefaction before he manages to find his words.

"And if I attack you again? I couldn't stop myself from drinking your blood, would have probably torn out your throat. What if I kill someone next time?" He asks finally.

"I'll stop you," she decides without hesitation. "If you lose yourself to your instincts again, then I'll just have to stop you."

"And if you can't?" He demands.

_"I will stop you,"_ she repeats. She isn't sure if she would be able to kill him, but she's absolutely prepared to maim him if it becomes necessary. She's already got plans unfurling in her head to ask Cross about getting another Anti-Vampire weapon, one more suited for containment than Artemis, or for a tranq-gun or maybe legitimate gun. She's pretty sure it's unlikely that she will get an actual gun, but the other two do not seem so unlikely.

Well, she'll ask about them after she's done yelling at him for giving Zero an _Anti-Vampire weapon when he's a vampire_ (though how he uses it, she isn't actually sure), especially one so dangerous as Bloody Rose. Hadn't he thought that that may not be such a good idea, as Zero is apparently both a vampire and suicidal?

Zero stares at her in stunned silence, probably taking her words to mean that she would kill him if he went out of control, before he offers her a tired, somewhat relieved expression. Artemis calms in her grasp, collapsing, and Bloody Rose sparks with a slight sting in her other hand as the tension in the room dissipates. With a huff she tosses the weapon at Zero, the boy yelping as it lands heavily in his lap before seeing that the safety was reengaged.

"Did you think I would throw it at you with the safety off?" Yuuki asks with slight amusement, sitting down where she stood and staring at him in the gloom. He offers her an irritated-embarrassed look and she snickers at him before he winces. Yuuki's eyes immediately widen in realization and she rocks forwards onto her knees to reach over. She ends up in a hugging position, reaching around Zero and fumbling through the tight knots before she manages to untie them, letting Zero's arms free, and then she grabs the arm connected to the dislocated shoulder. She gives Zero a questioning look, and he nods.

Shoving his arm back into place, Zero lets out a grunt of pain and then stretches the arm, rotating and flexing both as she settles back on her heels to study him.

"Stop being such a dumbass, okay?" She asks after a minute. Zero snorts in surprise and doesn't bother to answer her, looking around his room. His eyes land on the large hole in his floor and they widen.

"I forgot you did that…" She turns as well and discovers the hole.

"Uh- sorry?"

"How did you even do that?" He demands, shifting to a stand to walk towards the hole before crouching down to investigate it.

"I don't actually know," Yuuki frowns. "I was just so angry, and I needed to make a point, so I did it. That was intended for you, though," she admits. Zero gives her a mildly alarmed look, and she huffs. "You would have been fine." The alarm turns to skepticism.

"Sure I would have been," he drawls. She mutters incoherently under her breath before her brain, now lacking it's insistent emotions, reminds her of what she'd done.

"Oh, no," she moans, collapsing backwards onto the floor. Zero gives her a curious glance.

"What?"

"I ran out of class to come and find you."

"And?" His voice conveys his confusion clearly, not wondering why she's so concerned about running to him.

"I ran out of class, _during class._ By _vaulting over the desks."_ Zero snorts at her horrified voice. "I'm so dead. I'm going to have extra lessons, detentions, and piles of homework until I'm _seventy_." She bemoans, and Zero falls into helpless laughter at the apparently hilarious sight she makes. With an indignant, but mostly playful, shout, she rolls to her feet and lunges at him, bowling him over, and they devolve into wrestling. Though she's careful to avoid the areas she'd managed to hit in her attack, as they're likely to be bruising terribly already.

He manages to make her hair one big tangle, though, and refuses to help her fix it.


	14. Fourth Night

**I've just figured out that my capitalization is really sketchy, and I'm sorry about that! This chapter is a little shorter than my last ones but _here you go, lunarlegend11, the Aidou confrontation!_**

**_moonlightstriking, my answer is no. I've explained it before? I personally find that sort of "plot twist" to be overused, and if I were to put myself fully in Yuuki's shoes (which is what would happen) things would go _very _badly._**

**_To everyone favoriting, following and reviewing with compliments, thank you so much! I'm happy you're liking my story!_**

* * *

Dragging Zero along with her to Cross' office so he won't skip or isolate himself again, Yuuki tightens her grip on his fingers when he starts to lag behind once again. She's really not going to let him out of her sight, not at all.

"Where were you even going to go?" She finally asks, turning her head just enough so she can look at Zero, whose eyes are locked on her hair. It's out of it's braid for right now, as she'd started to pick at it at some point and it'd unraveled. She's pretty sure he wants to re-braid it, but is suppressing the urge for some reason. Maybe because of the proximity to her throat?

"To settle this whole thing," Zero eventually answers. Finally getting to the headmaster's office, Yuuki pushes the heavy doors open with a single hand, unwilling to release Zero, who already looks rather reluctant. They both freeze in the doorway, staring as Cross swirls around his office in a fur lined parka and wearing some sort of animal pelt around his neck, complete with it's head and wide, glassy eyes. At first, they are unable to see what he is holding, but then he stops to greet them, facing their direction and shifting about in place.

"Good morning! You've come at just the right time!" He says cheerily, looking as though if he could, he would be sparkling. "Just in time to see this! The Night Class uniform made for Kiryuu! It will look so good on you!"

Zero takes two steps forward and slaps Cross soundly across the face. Yuuki sort of wants to reprimand him, but she's also restraining herself from getting angry with Cross, who seems to be getting even more oblivious, lately. Zero turns on heel, his face dark, and Yuuki just barely manages to grab a hold of his arm at the elbow.

"I'm leaving!" He shouts, trying to continue walking. Yuuki manages to dig her heels in, knowing that she has to talk to Cross as soon as possible, and also knowing that there must be some reason for Cross to act so exuberantly.

"Wait, Zero!" Turning her annoyed gaze towards Cross, she scolds, "don't purposely go stepping on landmines!"

"Look at it from my point of view! I'm not joking!" Cross denies, one hand cradling his abused face, his pinkie curling to brace beneath his nose to stem the little bit of blood flow she can see. His face eventually softens from it's exaggerated emoting and he studies Zero. "You look like you've recovered… I'm glad." Zero stops trying to leave, but keeps his back to Cross.

"I'm not going to permit Zero into the Night Class," Yuuki denies as soon as she can devote her attention to speaking. "That would be cruel and unusual for both he and the vampires, and so I am going to use my power as a school guardian to prevent this!" She insists, referencing a rule that Cross, himself, had insisted on being created. As school guardians, she and Zero had the ability to remove a student or veto the entrance of a student if they had valid concerns, as they were the main security force for the academy. They also could punish students as they please, though usually they did not do so, either because of Kaname taking charge or because of their inability to pin definitive rule breaking on students.

Yuuki, mostly, had been disallowed that exact privilege due to "a lack of proportional justice", which she doesn't think is correct but never really argued against, because those girls were annoying criers and she did not want to deal with something like that personally ever again.

"Ah, you have a point. Even with Yuuki as a guardian, Kiryuu is still necessary as a guardian. If he were to enter the Night Class, he would no longer be allowed to be one…" Cross sighs, dropping his hand to open a long, thin box on his desk. Blinking as he opens it with gloved hands, he pulls out something shiny and metallic.

"Yuuki, come and put on this bracelet," he bids, beckoning her closer with his free hand as the other holds the bracelet like it might bite him. She approaches his desk and accepts the bracelet, but does not yet put it on. It's silver, with a small square piece of metal in the center. On the metal is a familiar crest- it's just like Zero's tattoo. A bad feeling prevents her from putting on the bracelet, so as she holds it in one hand, she looks up at Cross suspiciously.

"Why?" She asks. He waves her off, reaching over and clasping the bracelet around her wrist himself. Frowning at him, she watches as he picks up a small art knife from his desk and holds it towards Zero, handle first.

"Kiryuu, cut open your fingertip," he instructs.

"Ah?" Zero frowns, turning and approaching Cross' desk with a confused and wary frown.

"Cut it. I need your blood," Cross insists, pushing the blade towards Zero. Yuuki, getting a feeling that she should know what's going on but the knowledge being just out of her recent memory, turns towards the books in his office and peers over the titles as Zero accepts the blade from Cross.

"Zero, wait," Yuuki calls behind her as she finds the book she's looking for and pulls it out. Walking back towards him, she opens it and begins flipping through the pages, standing next to Zero so he can see the book as well as she finds the page she'd been looking for. "Your tattoo, I found it here, about two months ago," she explains to Zero, who gives her a shell shocked look. Probably at how long she's known his secret. "And this bracelet has the crest of your tattoo on it."

"Why must you be so suspicious?" Cross cries, but does not prevent them from looking in the book. Yuuki and Zero both give him harsh looks, and he quiets down sulkily.

"Your tattoo is the mark of a "Tame Vampire", which means that this bracelet should be here somewhere… Ah," she frowns in realization when she finds it before looking up at Cross sharply, pointing to the passage for Zero's benefit when he bends slightly to get a better look. "Cross, how could you?!"

"The tattoo and bracelet are a method of control," Zero begins to read aloud, "used to immobilize or incapacitate out-of-control vampires upon contact with each other."

"It's necessary! And it will only immobilize him!" Cross insists. "If Kiryuu loses control and tries to bite someone, this can be used to stop him." Before Yuuki can protest, Zero looks up from the book to give him a level stare.

"I thought this tattoo controlled the turn from human to vampire and prevented it?" He prompts with a deadpan voice.

"Yes. Even though it can't prevent it completely, it can help you suppress it," Cross explains, finally straightening from his sulking hunch, lifting a finger towards the ceiling slightly. "That's why I didn't tell you about this earlier. I had hoped that it wouldn't become necessary. But, now that your vampire nature has fully awakened…"

"There are other options than this!" Yuuki finally protests, not feeling right about doing something like this. "You could get me a high powered taser, or an anti-vampire weapon suited for restraint!" Zero looks at her quietly for a second before using the knife he's holding to slit his finger. Cross snatches the book out of her hand instantly, dropping it onto his desk before seizing their hands. The drop of blood hits the metal just a second before she can pull away, and in a burst of indignant anger, she kicks his desk, sending the heavy wood sliding and impacting with Cross, who releases them with a shriek.

"Yuuki," Zero calls, resting a hand on her shoulder as he pops the cut finger into his mouth to stop the bleeding. Yuuki turns to him, feeling a little betrayed by his allowance of her control over him in this way, and he offers her a placating look. As he distracts her, Cross uses the opportunity to creep closer, seize her wrist, and send the bracelet to Zero's neck.

There's a spark of something, similar to the anti-vampire weapons, and then an explosion of light, four pillars of blazing electricity forming as Zero is jerked backwards and into the ground. Once the lights clear, Yuuki sees four daggers of deep purple, two based over Zero's knees and two in his arms, pinning him to the ground, spread eagle.

Zero stares straight at the ceiling, looking dazed, and Yuuki feels revulsion for the jewelry on her wrist and the tattoo on Zero's neck as Cross begins to speak.

"My condition for allowing you to continue in the Day Class, is that neither class can know of your true nature, Kiryuu," he says gravely. "This is for your protection as much as it is for the academy. I hadn't wanted to use this method, but…"

"Yuuki," Zero calls for her attention. "This… is fine."

"If you don't resist, you will be able to move in minute," Cross tells Zero. Yuuki narrows her eyes at Cross before walking over the the desk and grabbing the book off of it's top, a vague idea of finding loopholes and information driving her to do so. "If I can do anything… when you are really in need of blood, Kiryuu, feel free to take mine!" Cross whips off his neck wrapping and pulls down his shirt collar, posing dramatically to show off his upper chest and neck.

A feeling of absolute mortification flows over top any anger Yuuki might have felt, and Zero surges to his feet and slugs him as hard as he can in the face.

"I feel like I'm being sexually harassed!" Zero shouts, face red, as Yuuki lunges forward to drag him backwards so he won't stomp on the downed mans face. "It's fine so long as there are blood tablets!"

"Ah, Zero, if you kill him-"

"Let's go, Yuuki," Zero grabs a hold of her collar and drags her behind him as he turns and heads for the door. The familiar gesture is warming even if it shouldn't be, and from where he lay on the floor, Cross pipes up.

"Ah, Kiryuu, aren't you forgetting something?" Zero pauses and releases Yuuki, glancing over at her. Understanding the quiet prompt, she gives him an understanding smile and turns to leave the office.

"I get it! I'll just go now, and talk to Kaname about not spreading this information," she informs them both before leaving, closing the door behind her and ignoring Zero's immediate protest about going on her own. The door cracks as she turns to leave, probably Zero preparing to chase after her, but then does not open further.

Yuuki has a second to contemplate remaining behind and eavesdropping. To ensure no more secrets will be kept from her. But with a firm mental shake she lopes off towards the Moon Dorms, deciding to complete her self appointed task instead of violate Zero's privacy.

Arriving to the back gate, which is a more functional entrance and exit for when it is not switch over time, Yuuki pauses at the sight of the old gate keeper. She isn't completely sure where Cross found him, but despite the fact that she has never gone to the official Moon Dorms, she greets him amiably.

"Ah, hello. It's fine if I pass, right? As a guardian?" She inquires. He looks up at her from beneath his cowl, face old and weathered with slightly bulging, milky eyes, and his face contorts into a grin.

"It's nice to see you, girl. You'd be the second to come here today, and the first I allow through of my own choice!" He greets, waving her through grandly with a slightly trembling arm. Offering him a bright smile and small incline of thanks, Yuuki makes her way through the gate and then across the grounds to the front doors of the Moon Dorm.

Pushing open the doors and stepping inside, she makes a point to not allow too much sunlight in as she begins to close them behind her.

"Yuuki-chan?" A shiver of dread and disgust makes its way across her skin at the familiar voice, and Yuuki turns on the spot to look behind her, leaving the doors still partially open. The Moon Dorms are incredibly ostentatious, like a mansion rather than a dorm, and everything is polished to a bright shine. Sitting on one of the couches, amidst a great big pile of plush pillows and across from two older men, is Aidou.

"Aidou," she greets stiffly, deciding not to use the appropriate honorific in a split second of thought. He pushes to his feet and drags the men up with him before bodily hurrying them out of the dorm.

"Okay, you guys go home now!" He insists, getting light in his face as he is closing the door. Yuuki takes several steps away from him in response to his proximity as she realizes that she is now completely alone with Aidou in the vestibule. "I'm tired and it's all their fault," he complains childishly before pausing and looking at her, one hand pausing from where it had begun to fist against his eye. "Why are you here? Everyone else is asleep right now."

"Sorry for disturbing you. I'm here to see Kaname," she informs in as polite a tone she can manage, not nearly as fight happy as Zero tends to get when facing vampires.

"Is that so?" He asks blandly, tucking his arms behind his head and striding for the stairs. "Come this way!"

"You're taking me there?" She checks, staying where she is. Halfway up the stairs. Aidou stops, turning slightly in her direction but not moving his hands from their position.

"Because dorm leader Kuran is kind to you alone, everyone just follows his lead. But, Yuuki…" He turns completely to look at her, "who was it that drank your blood, the other night?"

A jolt goes through her, and Yuuki feels alarm beginning to build.

"The night before last," Aidou leans against the stair banister, "there was the scent of blood that drifted into the classroom. We were all alarmed, but dorm leader Kuran told us to forget about it, and everyone stopped being so restless." Yuuki feels a little warmed that Kaname had already taken steps to keep Zero's secret safe. "I was the only one, other than he, to know that the scent… was your blood."

Yuuki goes completely still, that warmth vanishing, and all the lights in the room go out, plunging them into almost complete darkness. Yuuki's eyes immediately begin to adjust, but the sudden change leaves her momentarily blind as Artemis drops into her hand and extends instantly.

"I'm… _really irritated_. Just what are you to Kaname-sama?!" Aidou demands with a snarl. Yuuki feels the temperature dropping drastically, and can feel ice encase her right leg up to the knee. Artemis immediately strikes downwards to try and shatter it as her eyes finally finish adjusting, but as Aidou appears in front of her, ice forms up around Artemis and her hand. The pain doesn't come immediately, her skin possibly in shock, but she knows that if she doesn't free herself soon, it will.

"Hey-!"

"Just what are you to him, Yuuki, to act with him so familiarly?" He questions, leaning close to her face. Her muscles strain as she tries to move but her only free leg is important for keeping her balance and her only free hand is unarmed. Somehow she doesn't think punching Aidou would help her any, right now.

"Kaname-nii saved my life ten years ago," she blurts out as the pain starts on the exposed bits of her hand and legs. There isn't exactly much she can do in this situation but answer his questions and hope for help to arrive soon.

"Oh, is that it?" Aidou questions, straightening up and blinking in apparent surprise. "I see. Then, to show your gratitude, shouldn't you offer him all the blood in your body as thanks for his kindness?" Aidou smiles sweetly at her, his tone just as sweet, and both fake representations of his current mood. "After all, if he saved you, it belongs to him. Don't you agree?"

"That's-" She's interrupted again.

"Don't be embarrassed, I'll take you to him once I've frozen you in ice," he says, ice encasing both of her legs and creeping up her already entrapped arm as he rests a hand on her shoulder. For a second she contemplates biting him in the arm, but then Kaname appears at the edges of her senses, coming fast, and his then his hand closes gently over her just-starting-to-open mouth.

"Don't, Yuuki," he tells her calmly. Around him, there's an aura of barely leashed anger. As her eyes meet his, she can see the promise of Aidou's punishment in them and so nods slightly in recognition. He then steps away, towards Aidou.

"Dorm leader Kuran…"

Kaname's backhand slap almost knocks Aidou to the ground, one leg crumpling beneath him. He recovers in time to turn the collapse into a kneel, the ice around Yuuki shattering into fine particles of dust and falling away as Kaname begins to speak.

"What were you saying just now?"

"I was being impudent… I really am sorry, Kaname-sama," Aidou apologizes subserviently, one fist over his heart as his face is directed to the floor.

"Leave." Aidou stands and leaves with a fast pace, not quite running but definitely not walking, and does not glance at either of them even once. Once he is out of sight, Kaname turns back to her with a slightly worried expression, stepping closer to her to peer into her eyes. "Are you alright, Yuuki?"

"Ah," she collapses Artemis and re-holsters the weapon, looking her hand over and shifting from foot to foot. Her skin is a little red, and her feet feel like painful pins and needles, but… "Yes, just a little temperature sensitive, right now."

"I see," Kaname plants a hand on her head gently for a second before his face darkens and his hand falls lower, to hold onto the side of her head. "I apologize for Aidou's behavior and his words."

"You got here just in time, so it's alright," she denies.

"It isn't… Only Yuuki can be Yuuki," he tells her, a thumb moving to rest beneath her left eye. Something in her stomach and chest feels like it's turned to stone and weighing her down at the look in Kaname's eyes- it's soft and warm, and she likes she should be happy that he can feel that way, but it being directed at her… "You're different from those of the fellow Night Class, who just follow me." The look in his eyes changes slightly, and if she hadn't been hoping for some kind of change she would not have seen it. But the change is not exactly a positive one for her, as they become sad and somewhat distant. Lonely. "That you are so filled with warmth for me… that is already enough."

He releases her face and steps back, circling around her. That weight lightens, but does not disappear, as she's acknowledged it, and he continues to speak.

"Next time, please don't come to places such as this by yourself. Ask Kiryuu-kun to come with you. As long as there's something he took from you, he should at least be of that much use for you."

"Please, don't say things like that," she says after a moment, feeling as though she's walking on thin ice, but not understanding why.

"I say this," Kaname's hands reach out and grasp onto her wrist, though his eyes fall to her throat, "because, Yuuki, I cannot be indifferent about this as I had expected." His eyes track upwards to look at the opening Moon Dorm doors, and his gaze is angry. "Because my most important girl has been bitten by another guy." Yuuki takes a quick step away, freed from his gaze, and turns around to see Zero standing in the beams of sunlight coming into the dark room. "Return to the world of day, now, Yuuki."

Kaname turns and walks deeper into the darkness, and Yuuki trots off towards Zero without hesitation, the inexplicable sensation of prey narrowly escaping a predator. As soon as the dormitory doors close behind them, a knot she hadn't realized in her chest unfurled and she sags slightly in place.

"Yuuki?" Zero asks, noticing her sudden slouch. "Disappointed that you had to leave the one to call you important so clearly?" He jibes. Her eyes move upwards as she slouches to stand next to Zero, and she gives him a considering look, before deciding to be honest.

"It's not that…" She denies. "It's just… An uneasy feeling."

Her expression turns into a puppy dog face, and he rolls his eyes, not even having to hear her demand before crouching down on the ground, so she does not have to wrap her arms around his neck then hoist herself up and risk immobilizing him. She makes a happy noise and drops limply over his back, arms hanging loosely over his chest and legs collapsing out from under her. He grunts as he grabs her under her knees and begins to walk back towards the faculty building.

"Zero?"

"You had something you wanted to talk to the chairman about, right?" He asks, before shifting her slightly. Yuuki smiles a little, resting her chin on Zero's shoulder and letting her eyes fall half closed. "Did you have anything you wanted to say to me, though?"

"I… Kaname asked me about this awhile ago, and I wasn't able to answer," she finally begins to say once they're a distance from the Moon Dorms. "He asked if I was afraid of vampires, after you bit me."

Zero stiffens and stops walking.

"I'm not afraid of vampires, of _you_, but I'm afraid of you losing control. Of other vampires losing control," she finishes. One hand leaves her leg and Zero pulls something out of a pocket in his jacket, revealing it to her to be a small gun, the barrel in a holster.

"What?" Yuuki mumbles, lifting her head slightly in confusion. She hadn't known Zero had another gun.

"I borrowed this from Cross. It's also an anti-vampire weapon. I want you to have this… because I'm afraid of that, too," Zero admits to her. "When I lose the part of me that is human… I want you to use this and kill me." He lifts the gun slightly, and she wraps her fingers around the end. He continues walking once she has it in a secure grip, and Yuuki allows the heavy feeling that had settled disperse, studying the gun in her hands as she lowers her head onto Zero's shoulder once more. The gun is plain looking, probably intended for stealthily carrying such a weapon, and small enough that it's almost too small for her hands, which is quite a feat.

It somehow feels less "alive" than Artemis or Bloody Rose, she notices, and deduces that their weapons must be abnormal among anti-vampire weapons. That, or this gun is abnormal, itself.

"This gun…" Yuuki begins in a low voice, not worried at all about Zero hearing her, as it's intended for him to do so. "I understand, but I will only do so where there is no longer any choice," she tells him. Zero is silent for a minute before nodding in acceptance. She remains on his back until they're in front of Cross' office, and he sets her down. She looks over at him curiously once she is on the ground, and he pushes her shoulder until she turns, and then takes a hold of her loose hair.

With a smile as he combs his fingers through her hair, she makes her way into the office, tucking the gun into a pocket as Artemis falls into her hand and extends as she comes in swinging to make a point.


	15. Fifth Night

**This chapter almost had to be posted tomorrow because it got very long winded. A lot happens here and there were very few legitimate time skips I could use to break it up without creating an unnecessary cliff hanger. Which would have been dumb and, as I said, unnecessary.**

**I made some decisions in this chapter that _fit,_ but I don't like that they do despite also liking them. See if you can spot them.**

**_lunarlegend11, the party!_**

**_guest leia, nice to see you again! Thanks for the review! I'm glad you're liking this story so far. I'm very unlikely to just stop if that's any comfort._**

**_Most of your questions about Aidou are, I hope, rhetorical? But from my understanding Aidou is pretty entitled and petty, as well as obsessed with all aspects of Kaname that he knows. I can't remember for sure but I'm pretty sure he saves things that Kaname has broken before? Like, trash._**

**_About that POV thing, I might try to make an omake out of it, but at the moment it probably isn't going to happen. I can only empathize with/understand and predict so many different characters and mindsets and the vampires, Kaname especially, are beyond me. There's a lot of history I don't know off the top of my head and that's located randomly throughout the manga, and behind the scenes things I don't remember nearly well enough for that sort of thing. My limit is with Zero and Yuuki, who as the protagonists, are very visible and defined characters._**

**_Yuuki's inability to defend herself very well with Aidou wasn't about her weakness or fear, it was more due to being off balance in regards to the lighting and also her lack of ranged weapon. She had been very scared but is good at compartmentalization and so there might not be overt signs of nightmares but I can guarantee that Yuuki will not be forgetting it. She is very aware that vampires are dangerous and not human and therefore will not always hold true to human morals or laws. But they're everywhere and important people in her life are vampires, and so she cannot be afraid of vampires solely for their nature._**

**_Yes, Kaname is dramatic. Nearly everything he says is canon, I guarantee, because he's so hard to write for when it isn't pre-scripted. I'm trying, though. Be prepared for more long winded speeches from him._**

**_When you say "Kaien", I'm going to assume you mean "Kain", as in Akatsuki Kain. You'd be right to assume he and Yuuki would get along, and they would probably be on a first name basis with each other if Akatsuki didn't hang around Aidou so much and wasn't aware something fishy is going on with Yuuki and therefore is keeping his distance while also trying to be as polite as possible. He and Aidou are both incredibly smart (though I like Kain much better), and if Aidou wasn't so blinded by personal bias they both would absolutely know what's up with Yuuki and Kaname. As it is, though, Akatsuki is the only one and is keeping his mouth _shut.**

* * *

Sitting in the tree above where Zero is taking a nap, Yuuki studies the other students in her class as they move around on horses, Yori standing nearby, as she is currently not at all comfortable about getting on a horse. The only horse nearby without a rider is identifiable as White Lily, and Yuuki can understand why she is lacking a rider.

Having grown upon campus and been around for the in-statement of the horse riding portion of physical education, Yuuki and Zero both had been around White Lily as a foal. Zero and she haven't been around to see her often, and as Yuuki watches, Lily manages to work herself free and proceeds to bolt in their direction.

She slows to a stop just a bit away, and stares Zero down.

"Don't ruin my nap," Zero warns, cracking an eye open as Yuuki shifts in her place, changing from sitting to crouching down on her branch. Lily rears up, as though she's going to trample Zero, and Zero moves quickly, lurching to his feet and grabbing hold of her reins, that had been hanging loose from her bridle. Some kid from the nearby class yells a warning too late, not that it was necessary as Zero then swings up onto her back using the reins as leverage, and Yuuki watches with wide eyes as Lily seems to visibly calm down after a minute or so of frantic bucking and panic.

Several Day Class boys gather around on their horses, their faces flushing as they whisper among each other.

"Kiryuu is awesome… He easily tames that 'horse from hell' Lily… As expected of the only student of the Day Class able to stand up to Night Class' Kaname Kuran…" Zero begins to walk Lily in a circle around the tree Yuuki is currently inhabiting as she tries to identify why Lily had suddenly gotten so agitated. "Zero is our day class idol!" One boy howls, in tears, and the boys near him agree vehemently.

Yuuki kind of wants to sigh but instead twists her body so she almost falls out of the tree, remaining in it by hooking her knees around the branch and dangling upside down, sincerely glad for the gym pants she's wearing. Her braid pulls tightly at her scalp as it falls below her head, a long cord of hair that almost brushes the ground.

The Day Class boys all shriek at her sudden appearance, but she ignores them.

"Why would Lily…?"

"She must have felt a horrible atmosphere," Zero mumbles, Lily turning slightly underneath him as Zero looks in the direction of the barely visible Moon Dorms. Yuuki looks in that direction as well, and can see only their roof.

* * *

Yuuki walks along next to Zero along the roadside as they approach the town, she looks contemplatively at the shopping list Cross had thrust upon her. The list is sort of… suspicious. Cow liver, fresh vegetable, vinegar, an obscene amount of rice and flour. Zero, peering over her shoulder at the list, snorts in obvious derision.

"Looks like someone is planning on cooking," Zero comments. Yuuki nods thoughtfully before tucking the list into her jacket pocket.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that Cross gave me too much money for all of this, so we can do a little extra shopping on the side!" She cheers, hopping to move a little ahead of Zero and turning to walk backwards. Catching sight of the bland look on Zero's face, which is his default face, she decides to tease him a little bit. "Don't look so bored, Zero! Spread your wings! Enjoy yourself!"

"I don't have any wings I can spread," Zero deadpans at her, his face going completely still. Blinking in surprise at her taunt being so cleanly turned against her, Yuuki flounders for a second before Zero smirks at her, very slightly, and she huffs.

"Come on, come on! You're such a killjoy! Your wings will grow eventually, even if I have to push you off a roof to force them to grow!"

_"What."_

She ignores him, dragging him towards where she is pretty sure she remembers the open air market being. It doesn't take long to find, and even less time to get a majority of what they need. Initially, she complains about Zero taking a hold of all their groceries, becoming a pack mule, but Yuuki manages to steal some of the smaller but heavier bags from his arms when both become occupied and he swings a heavy sack of rice over one shoulder. He gives her a deadpan look as they stall near the side of the market, Yuuki crossing things off their list and double checking things.

"You know, most people would prefer not to carry groceries if they don't have to."

"You took on too much at once," Yuuki waves off distractedly. "I'm strong enough to carry this, at least. I'm thankful for you carrying the rice, though. I couldn't have carried that." It's almost as long and thick as her body, which is actually scary, honestly. Trying to carry that around would have been messy.

"Do we have to get anything else?" Zero complains, his face dark, and Yuuki snickers at him. Zero glances upwards at the late afternoon sky, his expression becoming concerned rather than irritated. "We should head back to the academy before it gets dark."

"Yeah, probably," Yuuki nods. "At least we don't have to worry about the switch over today, yeah?" Her attention tracks to a nearby coat at a clothes stand, recognizing that it's something that Zero would like. Dropping her bags and peeling Zero's from one arm, she moves to the stand and grabs it. Looking over at Zero as she approaches with the coat, she bids, "lend me that arm I just freed up."

Said arm stretches out while Yuuki presses the coat to Zero's front, measuring the distance between his shoulders, and across his chest before laying it across the stretched arm. _It looks like it would fit…_

"What are you doing…?" Zero demands.

"Just outfitting my troublesome brother with something I think he would like," she comments before freezing, not having actually intended to ever admit her feelings for Zero out loud. Zero's face twists briefly before he gets himself under control, stooping down to pick up his bags carefully, and Yuuki lowers the coat somewhat.

"How funny," Zero eventually comments after shifting his load slightly. "Does that make you my little sister, then?"

A sharp zing of mingled pain and shock hits her in the chest and she takes a minute or so before recovering, picking up her things under one arm and heading back to the stall, hoping that Zero will wait up for her and not leave her behind while she buys this coat. As he continues to speak, however, she kind of wishes he had.

"After all, you can't be an 'older sis'. You're both a year younger than me, and you haven't gotten any taller since middle school," he snipes. Yuuki wants to tell at him about how even if he's a year older, he was held back in school and that it wasn't her fault that he'd shot up like a weed.

Trotting to catch up with Zero, the coat is tucked into a bag and her free hand picks through their remaining funds.

"We have enough to go and get food, to prevent too much chance of poisoning tonight, if you'd like?" She offers, showing him the money in her grasp. Zero looks down at her and then looks around in thought. He then shrugs slightly.

"Sure," she stares him in the face with uncertainty, knowing that there's more he isn't saying. After a minute of pointed staring, he gives in with a quick twitch of his brows. "I kind of want _ramen_," he admits. Yuuki perks up and looks around before calling up her mental map of the town.

"I know a good _ramen_ place nearby! I went there with Yori last break," she cheers, walking forward. She can tell Zero is following behind her dutifully. There's silence before Zero speaks up.

"With Wakaba, huh? So you still can't walk around in town by yourself?" Yuuki gives him an offended look.

"What? I can totally go into town on my own!" She then slumps just slightly. "I'm just not allowed to anymore…" Zero snorts, but doesn't say anything more.

The _ramen_ shop is still open, thankfully, and when Yuuki enters, Zero trailing behind, she's treated to the owner looking at her with something like horror. She frowns in offense and sits at the counter, Zero sitting down one seat away from her and dropping their groceries down to rest just beneath his feet so they cannot be pulled away from him without his notice.

"You again?" The shop owner asks faintly, his face pale. Yuuki pouts.

"Yes! I have money this time," she insists before continuing, making her order, "I want _chashu shio ramen_, without any toppings but meat!" She declares, making a point to show him the money. From his seat, Zero gives her a startled and skeptical look.

_"This time?"_ He parrots. "Yuuki, what'd you do?"

"Nothing!" She denies. "I paid him in the end!" The shop owner takes her money before looking at Zero, with some wariness, for his order.

"_Tonkatsu_," Zero orders after a moment, and Yuuki obligingly hands the owner the money as well, not wanting to antagonize him needlessly and get thrown out. Again. The owner looks reluctant but begins to make them their food, and Yuuki begins to bounce excitedly. "You're excited," Zero notes.

"It's good!" She explains. "And I got this guy to give me extra soy sauce last time!"

"Absolutely not!" The shop owner shrieks, voice high pitched and full of despair. "I will not allow such a thing to happen ever again!"

"Aw," Yuuki pouts before perking back up. "That's alright! You're _ramen_ is still really good, either way!" She cheers as her food is placed in front of her, and then Zero's own is placed down, as well. Her eating speed is honestly beyond her control, the _ramen_ too tasty to eat slowly, and she finishes within maybe five minutes. Zero, who had only just begun to eat his own when he'd noticed her feverish consumption, stares at her with mixed shock and disgust.

"What the hell?" Zero mumbles before Yuuki turns her attention forwards again, looking the shop owner in his eyes. He looks kind of terrified, but she pays that no attention.

"Another?" She questions, voice almost begging but intense, nonetheless, holding out more money. The shop owner accepts and makes his way back to the stove.

"You sure eat a lot… And quickly." Zero continues eating and Yuuki casts him a quick look.

"I dare you to tell me it isn't good!" She insists before someone else enters the small area of the official 'shop', causing the both of them to pause any conversations that had been ongoing. Two girls enter the shop together, looking as though they've only recently gotten off of working as baristas, maybe, and upon seeing Zero, they both flush a deep red and hesitate to sit.

Yuuki watches them warily, Zero continuing to eat and Yuuki actually ignoring the bowl of _ramen_ placed down in front of her, her eyes narrowing. The first girl visibly steels herself before speaking.

"Sorry to interrupt," she calls, taking some steps towards Zero, who pauses in eating to cast a look in the girl's direction. His expression is entirely dismissive. "May I know if you are a Cross Academy student?"

Yuuki hops down from her chair, trying to get the girls attention as a bad feeling makes itself known, Zero's expression turning to stone, eyes slightly wide.

"I'm right? No wonder you seem different from other people!"

"Excuse me, please don-"

"As expected, people from the Cross Academy remain to be special. Are you a member of the Night Class? Aidou, from there, often comes into town to buy from the ice cream shop I work at nearby. If you see him, could you tell him that he's welcome to come and see me, if he likes? My name is-"

Zero pushes to a stand, one leg leveraging up his groceries as he abandons his _ramen_ and leaves the shop with a quick, "I'll go out first," without acknowledging the girl at all.

"Yeah, wait for me there for a minute," Yuuki calls behind him, standing quickly. She casts the visibly relieved shop owner a smile and grabs her bags as well, leaving behind her untouched bowl of _ramen_ and beginning to make her way outside as Zero turns and walks just out of sight. One of the girls tries to stop her, looking offended, but a quick angry glare makes them stumble out of her way so she can go.

_Weird, I hadn't expected that to work,_ Yuuki muses to herself before she leaves the shop and makes her way in the direction Zero had gone. Zero isn't anywhere in sight, his grocery bags abandoned on the ground, as well as the, thankfully unbroken, giant bag of rice. Yuuki walks over to the groceries and finds that they're in front of the mouth of an alley, which is dark and foreboding, somehow, despite the setting sun still providing more than enough light.

Yuuki leans down and collects what bags she can before making her way down the alley. Sliding carefully around the jagged barbs of a rusted pipe, Yuuki can tell that to bleed right now would be a _very bad idea._ Looking around as the alley diverges into two separate forks, she chances a call of,

"Zero?"

There's a sound above her. Her groceries drop immediately, A twist of her wrist and angling of her thumb sending Artemis into her palm and the rod extending the second she can get a solid grip on it. She turns swinging, the body above her landing on the rod hands first, heavy and loud. Their hair is messy and grayish, their clothing in tatters, their shadowed face illuminated by the mad red glow of its eyes. The gun against her lower back is pressed tightly against her as her back arches slightly backwards at the weight, and the vampire remains vertical against all logic declaring that it should not be so, drool dripping downwards as it hisses at her.

_"You… Smell delicious,"_ it seethes, _"let me… Drink it all."_

The vampire pushes off of the rod, landing on its feet and then rushing at her instantly. She barely manages to move the rod so as to intercept it's wild strike, but then a presence appears behind her, familiar and comforting.

"Need some help, Yuuki?" Artemis is snatched out of her grasp, the rod moving and pointing directly at the vampires face, sending blood scattering to the ground and on the rod when it impacts with its front teeth. As Zero straightens, Yuuki finds herself tucked on the inside of one of his arms, his body right behind her own. With quick fingers, she digs the gun out from where she'd holstered it, turning off the safety and cocking it back as Artemis sparks warningly in Zero's grasp. She cannot smell burning flesh, and Zero does not twitch, so Artemis mustn't be conveying extreme dislike just yet.

Across from them, the vampire is crouched down, eyes seeming to brighten further as it snarls, furious and animalistic. Yuuki ducks under Zero's arm, gun trained on the vampire, as it drools and glares at them, babbling senselessly about blood and hunger, hesitating for a reason she can't quite name.

"You were originally a human, right?" Zero asks, sending a cold feeling down Yuuki's spine.

_"Yeah! So what?"_ The vampire asks before lunging at Zero, apparently deeming him the greater threat. Which probably isn't wrong, really, but Yuuki's got the lethal weapon, here.

The lethal weapon she promptly uses, driven by instinct and a quick snap of fear. Five shots impact with the vampire's torso, and a livid purple glow indicates the shots making the intended effect, the vampire letting out an angry shriek before collapsing apart, breaking into dust. There's immediate pain in her arms from the small but present recoil, and she distantly finds herself surprised she'd managed to hit it at all, as her aim is still somewhat sketchy. Directly behind it, holding a sword, is Takuma and Senri, both looking rather startled.

Zero shifts in front of her slightly, Artemis' sparking visibly getting worse the longer he held it, as Yuuki re-holsters the gun once the safety it on and shifts in place.

"What are you two doing here?" Yuuki demands, Artemis sending quite a large spike of electricity out and making Zero drop it. Yuuki catches it and nonchalantly collapses it before tucking it back up her sleeve.

"You should head home soon, Yuuki-chan," Takuma says instead of answering her, shooing her away like she's a little kid, before noticing her expression and continuing, "If you want to know, come to the Moon Dorm later tonight for the details." Yuuki frowns and opens her mouth to demand answers _now_, because they're _not supposed to be off campus_, but Zero drops a hand over her mouth and waves the vampires off. They disappear almost immediately, and once they're gone, Zero releases her face and she turns to him with a scowl.

"What, you don't want to know what they were doing in town?" She asks as they turn to walk back to the mouth of the alley, Yuuki lunging ahead to grab up the smaller groceries before Zero can do so. At his reproachful look, she sticks out her tongue.

"We can find out later. We're late," he points upwards, and Yuuki discovers that they're indeed late, the sun down and the nightlife alive, a bat or two fluttering about.

* * *

"Despite your lateness, I managed to make such a masterpiece!" Cross boasts as they all sit together for dinner. "Liver with fried veggies, stewed vegetables with meat, minced fish and many others! How is it? Nice?"

From where she's sitting across from Zero, they exchange looks. The food does look good, admittedly, but the strange and extravagant combinations as well as Cross' sketchy cooking ability have turned each dish into something… strange. The mentioned stew tastes only like broth despite the numerous ingredients, and any egg on the table has somehow managed to taste… _boneless_. Which Yuuki doesn't actually understand. Despite the spices she knows are present in every dish, she can taste none of them.

It would probably be better if she could add soy sauce, but Cross had burst into loud, messy tears when she'd pulled the bottle out of the fridge, and it just wasn't worth the hassle right now to use it. Emotionally she is not ready to negotiate with Cross for something so minor.

Instead of complaining, Yuuki kicks Zero in the shin and they remain silent. The food isn't inedible at all, so there's no use in making a big deal about it. Cross goes still at their silence and then collapses sideways out of his chair, hitting the ground and an aura of gloom appearing over his head.

"Such a rare occasion that I can cook for all of us, and I get such a cold review? I worked so hard to make those dishes!" He wails sadly. Yuuki and Zero ignore him, and Yuuki reaches over and steals some of the meat off of Zero's plate. He'd been hogging it, and she won't stand for it, even if it might as well be mystery meat. "Aah, never mind. At least you're both eating," Cross says eventually with a sigh once he's calmed down.

The man climbs back into his chair and continues to eat as though nothing had happened before jolting slightly in place and digging into his pockets.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Here, you two. Zero, you're almost finished with your current ones now, right?" He extends a small tic tac and medicine box with the Cross Academy insignia to Zero before tossing her a much more official looking bottle of the same pills. Zero's eyes widen as he accepts the packages, and looks uncertainly over to Yuuki, who has turned her attention down to the label of the bottle in her hands.

"Why are you two wearing such expressions?" Cross asks, flapping a hand at them. "Even though these tablets are meant for restraining blood lust, they're mostly the equivalent of eating a meal!" Zero scowls darkly at Cross and Yuuki glances upwards to give him a narrow-eyed look as well before turning her attention back to the pill bottle.

The instructions are sparse, probably to prevent the secret it contains from being discovered if the bottle is found by a human, but clear. Take as necessary with water. Her decision clear, Yuuki tucks the bottle into her pocket and resolves to carry both the bottle and bottles of water on her at all times. Zero similarly tucks his pills away, and they return to eating in silence before Yuuki speaks.

"We ran into Ichijou Takuma and Senri Shiki in town, earlier. Presumably hunting a mad vampire," she says in as calmly a manner as she can. She suppresses the sick feeling and terrible thoughts that are sparked by the memory or said vampire. Now is not the time to let that sort of thing emerge, she has things to do that do not allow for a messy breakdown. Cross jolts, chopsticks freezing, looking at her in worry.

"What happened?! Are you okay?!" He scrambles out of his chair and then drags her from her own, frantically checking her over. Zero is still in his chair, unmoving but intent.

"Ah… I'm fine. But I'm going to head to the Moon Dorms after dinner to ask what they'd been doing in town. Did you give them permission?"

"I'm going with you," Zero claims with narrowed eyes. Yuuki glances at him and nods in acknowledgement before refocusing on Cross, who is manhandling the sleeves of her sweater upwards to check her forearms for injuries. Her previously injured wrist is healed now, though faint marks of what used to be remain, and there are no new injuries anywhere.

"I didn't," Cross answers once he's ascertained her well being. "But I'm sure they had a good reason."

"Well, we're going to find out," Yuuki tells him assuredly. Cross beams at her and Yuuki gives him a smile in return before herding him back to his seat and then sitting down in her own. A glance downwards reveals that Zero had been picking food off of her plate while she'd been preoccupied. She looks up incredulously, but he only shrugs as though to say 'it's food, what do you expect?' and Yuuki promptly steals some meat off of his plate.

He responds by taking more of her food, this time a large lump of rice. Things quickly devolve from there, though Cross does his best to stop them once they start actually throwing food back and forth in petty retaliation.

* * *

Zero makes a point to check Bloody Rose's functionality, turning off the safety and cocking it soundly back so the weapon will be ready to fire at a moment's notice, his aura full of agitation. Yuuki, despite also feeling on edge due to their unseen watchers, sees the actions as the provocation they are and sighs.

"Stop being so aggressive, Zero! Think of this as a diplomatic mission! We can't attack them!" Something changes and then she tacts on, "_First_, at least," as two familiar figures appear on either side of them. Zero aims Bloody Rose to Yuuki's right, arm just behind her head, and Yuuki extends Artemis over Zero's front to his left. The gun is pointed in Aidou's face, and Artemis is lodged just beneath Kain's chin, not exactly touching, but already letting off slight sparks. Kain looks resigned and maybe a little annoyed, hands up on either side of his head, and though Yuuki cannot see Aidou's expression, she assumes it is negative.

"Here to welcome us, vampires?" Zero asks blandly. Yuuki's jaw clenches slightly as Aidou speaks from _behind her, much too close for comfort_. Her skin tingles in memory of the pain from the cold, and she barely resists from whipping around, trusting Zero to have her back instead.

"That's right. Ichijou asked me to- I would not have bothered otherwise."

"Ah, don't be so ready to fight," Kain complains. "Concerning all the bad things that have happened recently, tonight we'll be acting peacefully." Yuuki obligingly collapses Artemis and re-holsters her weapon, Zero not doing so until he has bullied Aidou into Yuuki's sight-line and several feet ahead of them, not allowing him to linger behind Yuuki.

Zero's efforts are rewarded by Yuuki relaxing somewhat, as Kain relocates towards the back of the group, lingering sort-of next to Yuuki rather than directly behind her, having noticed her discomfort with vampires being behind her, with very little exception. He offers her a nod in greeting, and she does similarly.

It takes a few minutes before they are circling around the Moon Dorms towards where Yuuki knows the veranda is located, and they find it swollen with vampires, all of whom are very clearly inhuman, no longer pretending human mannerisms for the sake of the Day Class. Yuuki's skin crawls ever so slightly at their general stillness and smoothness, their watchful eyes, and the feeling in the air, which is heavy. She can also smell the metallic scent of blood coming from somewhere, and something more medicinal that might be the scent of the blood tablets. There's also warm food somewhere nearby, something sweet, and very little perfume.

"This way," Aidou bids without looking back at them, walking them directly through the group. The vampires part without any fuss, but Yuuki can see many of them fondling weapons and subtly baring their fangs at them. It kind of makes her want to extend Artemis once more, and she knows Zero must be feeling similarly, based on his inching closer to her as they walk. They eventually make their way out of the crowd, and they find Takuma lingering in the back, near where the food was located, and near the staircase leading to the upper floor balcony-type area, and a small, curtained off pavilion area.

"Deputy Chief Ichijou, we brought them here," Kain pipes up, wandering away from them and towards Takuma. Yuuki's eyes have locked onto the four tier cake and pyramid of champagne glasses, all of them half filled with what she suspects is either wine or water with dissolved blood tablets, Takuma is standing next to, the sudden realization that this must be a birthday party comes to her.

"Oh! You came!" Takuma smiles at them sunnily before throwing his arms wide and confirms her thought. "Tonight is my birthday party! Isn't it great?"

"Ah? Happy birthday! I don't have a gift ready for you, but it isn't as though I got a formal invitation," Yuuki smiles back at him, pushing aside her unease at his friendly demeanor. It still does not seem disingenuous, but among so much inhumanity and with his species, it always just rubs her wrong on a more primal level than she can change now. "How old are you?"

"How old… In terms of human years, or vampire years?" Takuma asks, his smile dimming ever so slightly as he lowers his arms and takes a step closer.

"Vampire," she decides quickly, deciding that she does not want to know how old Takuma is in human years. That just might be upsetting to her world view.

"I'm 18! I'm an adult now," he says brightly. "If you don't have a gift, I'll happily accept a kiss in place of one." He turns his cheek towards her, his smile lessening and his cheeks pink. There's a sharp, inexplicable jolt of alarm that quickly dissipates as she realizes he's teasing. Zero drops a palm on her shoulder to ground her as she collects herself.

"We're not here to attend your party, though, Ichijou," she tells him after managing to do so. "We're here as guardians to ask about what you and Senri had been doing in town earlier today. I will not accept this being pushed under the rug, as it is against the rules for a Night Class student to leave campus without permission from the Headmaster, and you did not receive it."

"Ah, that," the feeling around Takuma changes, and he leans back against he railings of the veranda behind him. "Feel free to ask anything you'd like. Everyone here knows about it."

"I see. You and Senri went into town specifically to kill that vampire, didn't you?" She voices her suspicion, and when she receives no denial, she continues, deciding that to ask is better than to assume. "Can you explain to me why?"

"That had been an "ex-human" vampire. They are… very lowly." A disdainful voice comes from behind her. Yuuki shifts immediately, knowing Zero is doing the same based on the scuff of his shoes against the stone from his direction, and manages to catch both Aidou and Takuma in her vision.

"In vampire society," Takuma begins, "those at the top of the hierarchy are called "pure bloods", and a gathering of vampires are called "nobles". All of us here in the Night Class are "Noble" class and above…" Yuuki decides to interrupt the no doubt long winded, unnecessary explanation.

"I know all of this. Well, most of this. Please get to the point."

"And I suppose Kiryuu must know as well, as a member of a vampire hunter family," Kain comments from the side. Somehow, Yuuki is not surprised, though she had never been explicitly told such. She glances over at Zero, who doesn't seem to be looking at anything in particular as he begins to speak.

"Ex-human vampires all eventually fall into the Level E class, their will slowly eroding until they reach "the end"," Zero recites detachedly.

"That's right," Takuma confirms. "They will then have an uncontrollable craving for blood, losing their minds and recklessly attacking humans… And thus, they must be managed by nobles and above. Though there are mishaps, occasionally, and an Ex-human vampire escapes the noble's control and charges into human society." Takuma's head angles slightly toward the area behind him as a figure begins to step into view.

A rock settles into Yuuki's stomach.

"I heard a report of a Level E vampire roaming out in the town today," Kaname says, Entering view completely. Just behind him is Seiren, and between them, she is dressed in a remarkably more relaxed way. Seiren is wearing a cheongsam top, jeans and maybe three belts, her feet tucked into sandals. Kaname is wearing what looks like a relaxed business suit, only one button in the suit jacket done in the very middle, and both the collars of the jacket and button-up are popped, the button-up's top four buttons undone. With the available skin to act as a backdrop, Yuuki realizes that his hair is longer than she expected, reaching his collarbones, easily. "Ichijou and Senri went to hunt it down at my order."

All around them, the vampires are stirring, seemingly amazed that they're seeing him at all, and Yuuki restrains a full body twitch at the surge of sound.

"Why did you not report it to Cross, or get permission?" Yuuki asks, her only answer being the indignant silence of the vampires surrounding her.

"Yuuki, did you report this to Chairman Cross?" Kaname asks her without answering her, his voice and face curious and showing no sign that he had just ignored her valid concern. The stone seems to weigh even greater.

"I did. I came here for a report, myself, though. As you know," Yuuki answers. Somewhere near the back of her mind, behind all the attention she's devoting to her surroundings, Yuuki wonders where the Kaname-nii she remembers so fondly has gone.

"Yourself, is it? Coming to this place, along with Kiryuu…" Kaname turns away, waving behind him for them to join him. Well, maybe it had been intended only for Yuuki, but Zero follows along anyway, and Yuuki is thankful for that. They arrive inside the curtained off area to find vampires sitting on the railings of the pavillion, all watching intently, and Kaname dropping into a seat on a fainting chaise of a deep red color.

Yuuki is feeling very surrounded and kind of threatened right now, even though Kaname's presence is swelling up in the pavillion, blanketing over everything in such a way that would have been comforting even a year ago.

"Yuuki, come sit with me," Kaname calls.

"I'd rather n-"

"Just come," Kaname speaks over her protest, and the attention of all the vampires present, bar Zero, seems to focus in on her with terrifying intent.

"No-"

"Yuuki," He closes his eyes, voice firm, and a jolt in her back and along her spine has her walking over mechanically to sit down on the chaise. She stares at the ground, hands clasped in her lap, and one of Kaname's hands reaches over and takes hold of the end of her braid. She goes still, and he begins to unravel it almost too quickly for her to see before she is grabbed by the shoulder and dragged closer to his body.

She wants to bolt out of his hold, to run to Zero, to just run away from this entire pavilion, feeling suddenly trapped and incredibly uncomfortable and even a little sick.

"The safest place is beside me," Kaname tells her, and Yuuki can see Zero restraining himself from moving forward to pluck he out of Kaname's grasp, no doubt able to see her discomfort. "I'm sorry. That Yuuki would encounter that "hunting scene"... I would never have expected it. And that you would resort to ending such an existence…" Her discomfort and trapped feeling is briefly snowed under by other emotions that Yuuki quickly makes a point to ignore. _Not now, not now._ "Though you are also at fault, for wandering around in that sort of place."

Kaname's head turns, and Yuuki can feel his nose pressing into her hair.

"Ex-human vampires… should not have been created," he tells her in a soft tone that is probably supposed to be comforting as the hand not on her shoulder reaches over and grabs one of her hands, thumb and middle finger pressing into the inside of her wrist, against her pulse point. "But, in time long past, when battle between vampires and their enemies, the vampire hunters, was at its fiercest… some vampires wanted to rope humans into becoming their kind, in order to increase their "combat ability". However, nowadays, we of the higher class vampires have taken to managing the remnants of those vampires, sometimes even "taking care" of them."

He releases her hand and takes a hold of a lock of hair, lifting his head from her own and pressing the hair close to his mouth instead, and Yuuki feels a tremor of unease building up past where she'd secluded all of her feelings for the time being.

"Hunting vampires is a vampire hunter's responsibility, though. So, I have to ask, why did you not kill it in time?" Yuuki watches Zero's face freeze, his eyes widening slightly and face beginning to pale. "Did you feel _empathy_ with it, Kiryuu?"

All the blood disappears from Zero's face and he lurches in place, Bloody Rose arcing upwards and aiming at Kaname's head. Seiren, who had been previously been orbiting around, mostly unnoticed and silent, appears suddenly at his side, fingers straight and against Zero's throat. Yuuki can see blood dripping from her nails, down her fingers and then dripping from the pale skin. She can see all the surrounding vampires drawing weapons completely, shifting from their places and turning in their direction. Yuuki tenses and wishes that the gun against her back was holstered somewhere other than there, as Artemis, a blunt staff weapon, does not seem like it would be sufficient in this sort of situation.

"Seiren, it's alright," Kaname tells Seiren, straightening up slightly but maintaining his grip on her hair, which keeps her in place. "I was the one who spoke carelessly." Serien withdraws a hand, even though Zero maintains his aim at Kaname for a moment before meeting Yuuki's eyes and lowering the weapon. She's not completely sure why a look in her eyes would make him do so, but apparently it does.

"He dared point a gun at Kaname-sama…" Aidou seethes loudly from the side in the tense silence. "Kiryuu, that bastard… Cutting him to pieces won't even satisfy me."

"Forget it, Aidou," Takuma voices. "That scared me, too, but there's nothing you can do."

"I'll… try my best to bear it while I am in this school," Aidou concedes as Kaname twists her hair around his fingers quietly and Zero lets the gun fall completely to his side. "I won't go against Chairman Cross' peace treaty. But," Aidou walks into Yuuki's sightline and her wish for the gun increases, "I'm only doing so because of Kaname-sama's presence. That is why all of us have gathered here at Cross Academy."

"Okay!" Takuma claps, breaking the tension as Kaname shifts upwards a little bit, chin dropping onto her head.

That trapped, panicky feeling returns completely from where it had been stored, and she can't repress her full body flinch, prompting Kaname to back away slightly and give her a somewhat concerned, thoughtful look. She tries her best to pack that feeling away, and as it fades out, she knows that she's going to be crying later. Probably a lot. That or get really, really angry, which she would maybe prefer. Anger is more useful than tears.

"It's so mean of all of you to forget! Everyone here is gathered to celebrate my birthday! We must enjoy ourselves properly, no matter if it's Yuuki-chan or Kiryuu-san, they're still my honoured guests!" Yuuki untangles her hair from Kaname's grasp and stands up, making several steps away from Kaname and towards Zero before turning to speak.

"Kaname-nii, we're leaving," she tells him. Kaname stares her in the eyes quietly, and something happens behind her to prompt the scent of fresh blood. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Zero jolt and seize in place before disappearing from her awareness. She turns and watches as Zero takes off out of the pavilion, cutting through the crowd with obvious purpose, and Yuuki hurries after him, bidding Kaname a quick goodbye.

Zero makes his way out of sight quickly, but she continues to hear him as he runs in the direction of the pool, and Yuuki realizes what must be happening, digging a small flask of water out of her pocket and then the bottle of blood tablets as she runs, hearing Zero's loud breath and heavy footfalls before they leave her senses entirely. She slows slightly, senses straining, before she manages to see broken branches off to the side, and traces Zero's steps at a jog, opening the flask and then the bottle, dropping in three of the tablets before closing the flask once more, shaking it to dissipate the pills and powder as quickly as she can.

As she makes her way onto the stone pathway leading to the pools, her foot cracks down on something plastic. A look down reveals Zero's portable square for his blood tablets, the edge open and the previously almost full container visibly barren and rattling loudly when she picks it up.

Making her way forward, Yuuki tucks the holder into her pocket, flask in one hand and Artemis falling into the other, and she turns the final bend to see Zero collapsed near the back of the pool area against the divider that separates the pool from the trees nearby.

"Zero?" She calls quietly, approaching slowly and peering at Zero's face. As she watches, several blood tablets fall from Zero's hands and his eyes begin to glow faintly red the closer she approaches. "Hey, Zero? Can you understand me?" She asks, stopping and crouching down slightly to be on the same level as his collapsed form.

"Y-Yuuki?" Zero's voice calls out, strained. With a slightly relieved sigh, Yuuki creeps closer, remaining low to the ground and then she throws the flask over to Zero, the metal skidding loudly against the stone.

"That's blood tablets dissolved. You really shouldn't take them without water," Yuuki says as he reaches a shaky hand out and grips the flask, opening it and then drinking it without any hesitation, his body scooting backwards away from Yuuki as he swallows hastily. When he pulls his mouth away with a choking gasp, he manages to climb to his feet, staggering in her direction, dropping the flask. Yuuki pushes to a stand, and Artemis extends in her grip, uneasy.

"Ever since I attacked you… I have to eat the blood tablets. But they never work," he strains, and as he gets closer, Yuuki can see that the red has not faded from his eyes at all, though it hasn't gotten any brighter, which is a small comfort. Yuuki's mind scrambles, stress ratcheting upwards, and tears wanting to build up in her eyes before something just… Snaps.

Casting Artemis aside, a hand grabbing out her gun and throwing that aside as well, Yuuki rushes forward, hunching downwards and jamming her shoulder into Zero's stomach as hard as she can. Both Zero and herself go flying backwards, carried by momentum, and then soar into the pool water behind Zero with a loud splash. As they sink into the water, Yuuki manages to peel her eyes open and sees Zero's face, the red disappeared from his widened eyes and rationality having visibly returned to him.

When they emerge from the water, there's a figure waiting for them. As well as a gun.

The weapon fires directly next to her face, her ears ringing, and the bullet skims over Zero's shoulder, carving out a bloody furrow. No distinctive purple sigil appears, meaning that Zero had been shot by a normal weapon, or that it was not enough to activate the magic of an Anti-Vampire weapon.. Zero doesn't make a sound that she can hear over her ringing ears and they both turn to look at the man, though his face twists in pain and as though he cries out.

He's dressed in a long coat with a cowboy hat on his head, his hair thick and black and covering half of his face. He's wearing what might be suede shoes.

"Should I fire again, my cute student?" The man asks as the ringing fades, keeping the gun trained on Zero. Near the end of the barrel, Yuuki sees the distinctive sigil of an Anti-Vampire weapon. A shot made with that gun just might kill Zero if it hits correctly, and her blood turns to ice. "So stop right there, vampire." He snarls around the cigarette in his mouth.

"Sen… sei?" Zero grinds out, not yet turning in the man's direction.

"Zero… Even with your craving for blood, I did not think you would fall so far as to not be aware of me." The man cocks the gun, shifting slightly, and Yuuki moves in the water, dragging Zero closer and placing herself between the gun and he. The bullet would hurt if he fired anyway, but it would not her through her and she would not die. "You're that dull hermit's daughter, aren't you?"

"I'm not sure who you think you are, but I'm not going to just stand here and let you kill Zero. I'm not going to allow him to die now."

"And if he becomes a Level E?" In her grasp, Zero moved, pushing away from her and turning to half-face the man.

"Yuuki, this is okay," he says, breathing heavily. The man's hand flexes on the trigger and before he can fire, a voice cuts in.

"Why has it turned into this?! This is why I hate vampire hunters!" Cross wails, running in their direction with his hand outstretched. "Put that away!" Cross wrestles the weapon out of the man's grip and then turns in their direction. "How long will you keep them cornered in the water. Come on, children, hold onto me," he bids, arms extended towards them as he crouches at the pools edge.

Both of them climb out without assistance. Yuuki makes her way closer to the man, not yet going for her weapons, feeling better now that Cross is present.

"Who are you?" She demands, peering into his face and finding his right eye and cheek covered with a leather patch.

"Yagari Touga, vampire hunter. I was Zero's sensei. Isn't that right, Zero?"

From where he stands, peeling his soaked shirt off, Zero answers with a monotone, "yeah."

"You really act like that stupidly naive chairman's daughter," the man, Yagari, complains roughly. "You could have been bitten. You should be thanking me."

"Yuuki," Cross calls, approaching with Artemis in one hand and the gun in the other. "You should go to the dorms tonight. We'll take care of things."

She wants to protest. Go back to the house instead of the dorms. But the day is finally starting to catch up to her, and she feels… Exhausted. Wrung out. Like she wants to go and lay down, but like if she stops moving then she will never be able to move again. She accepts her weapons and walks off without another word, making her way to the female Sun Dorms. Her head feels like it's full of cotton, her eyes stinging and her limbs feeling leaden.

Once she has managed to shower at the dorms and then get dressed in her pajamas, Yuuki climbs on top of her blankets and pulls her knees into her chest. Yori twitches from in her bed and then rolls to look over at her.

"Yuuki?"

"Ah, did I wake you?"

"Hm," Yori blinks sluggishly before sitting up and then climbing into Yuuki's bed to sit next to her, not quite touching her but offering it as an option. "You're upset. You've been upset a lot lately, Yuuki. Is there any way I can help?"

Yuuki stares at Yori for a minute before hunching and slipping close to press against Yori's front. Yori's arms fold close around her and Yuuki breathes in her friend's scent of raspberries and wood shavings as the sting in her eyes worsens and she begins to cry, her face crumpling to the point of pain as she presses her nose against her knees.


	16. Sixth Night

**I don't like this chapter. It was really hard to write and I'm irritated about it. There is an omake at the end that is a scene I cut from this chapter. It's all going to be included later in a fashion but doing so now is a poor idea so I took it out. But I'm placing it here anyway.**

**_CatNapObsessed, you're right that it doesn't have to do with Kaname being a vampire. This is something that I've carried over from myself, actually, and can't explain it very well, but when people seem inordinately interested in me in ways other than friendship or familial bonds, I get incredibly uncomfortable when they touch me or involve themselves in my business, even if I like the contact itself. It isn't them exactly, but their intentions, if that makes any sense? Yuuki can tell he isn't touching her with innocent or brotherly intentions and there are no clear boundaries currently established between them. She is not sure how to create those boundaries and is thus kind of snowballing into discomfort and confusion. Yuuki has spent much more time around Zero than Kaname and trusts him more than she does Kaname, despite their past actions._**

**_Guest666, hi there! That is a nice OTP, I gotta say. Kaname's behavior is being played up slightly, but it _is_ in character for him as far as I'm aware. I agree though. Kaname hasn't ever been my favorite character and I'm not really doing him any favors, but I've always been more skeptical of people like him_** I

**_pendora59, nice to see you! I'm only about 70% sure I know what you mean as google translate is sketchy, but it's nice to hear from you anyways!_**

**EDIT 5/24: I mass updated previous chapters with legitimate line breaks, and I edited this chapter's typos. I'm not sure if I'll be able to continue using the lines, but I've added them _now._** **And I didn't intentionally delete this chapter, sorry...**

* * *

Yuuki doesn't want to leave her bed the next day. She doesn't make it to class, but by the time she wakes up, there's enough time for her to monitor the switch. Yori is back from classes and already changed into her casual clothes- loose cotton pants and a flowy tank top-, and she gives Yuuki a worried look as she stares at the ceiling of their dorm room. Her eyes are sore, she's wearing the same uniform she wore yesterday, and her chest feels like it's been hollowed out, painful and raw.

"Yuuki, are you alright?" Yori asks, stopping next to Yuuki's bed, near her head, as she looks down. There are shadows under her eyes, and they're red and slightly puffy. It takes Yuuki a minute for the question to make its way through the throbbing pain in her temples from all the crying yesterday, and she shifts a little in a half-hearted shrug. "If you can manage it, you should probably go to the switch over. Zero wasn't in class today, so he might not make it. Do you want me to come with you?"

"...No, it's alright," Yuuki says quietly, climbing out of bed and peeling out of her uniform. The muzziness and lingering depression is not uncommon for when she cries herself to sleep, but it's still upsetting on a low level. Due to her back being turned, Yuuki does not see Yori glancing at the collapsed form of Artemis and the gun that had been revealed amongst her blankets.

"Can I come with you anyway? Just to the switch?" Yori persists, dropping down to sit on her own bed as Yuuki puts on her spare uniform, ignoring the ribbon after failing to tie it correctly for a fifth time. Yuuki is moving uncharacteristically sluggishly, and Yori thinks she may not answer for a moment before she does so, the words dragging a little thickly but the flatness of her tone disappearing.

"If you want to, I don't mind." Yori turns and moves to put on socks and shoes, allowing Yuuki the pseudo-privacy to holster her weapons. She frowns as she slides the gun into place behind her, wishing she could have a chest holster like Zero for ease of draw, but knowing that even if her chest is flat enough to allow such, her uniform jacket is too tight. It's a minor miracle the gun is hidden by the jacket's natural folds, as it is.

Not five minutes later, they're making their way to the Moon Dorm gates for the switch, being among the first to arrive. Yori leans up against a nearby tree as the crowd begins to gradually increase. Among the gathering students, Yuuki can hear whispered rumors about how _'the Headmaster is out'_ and _'nobody has seen Kiryuu today?'_

Yuuki's exhaustion fades out the longer she is awake, though emotionally, she feels a little fuzzy and strained, still. As the crowd begins to surge and grow louder, a distant and irritated idea prompts wonderingly if they would calm down if she fired her gun into the sky. She shoves that feeling back, because that's a Stupid Idea and unacceptable, so settles for physically bullying the Day Class students into submission. Her actions are new and unexpected, and the students follow her instructions for once with wary confusion after she has swept a third student's legs out from under them and then stomped on their pelvis.

When the Night Class exits the dorms, she can tell that they're surprised at the order, but Kaname quells them before any of them can say or do anything, giving her a long, concerned look.

_I must look terrible_, she realizes as they begin to make their way to the school building, waving goodbye to Yori as she goes. Once she's pursued the vampires into their class, she makes her way back towards the outside to begin her patrols. On her way, however, she comes across the man from the previous night- Yagari- walking in her direction. Towards the classroom set for the Night Class' usage.

He's dressed more formally, his hair still a mess but his eye visibly blue in the better lighting. He's carrying a thick, hardcover book with a title in a language she does not recognize.

"Hey, Yagari-san, what'd you do to Zero? He did not attend classes, and Cross is supposedly missing, as well. So?"

Yagari gives her a long, level look before speaking. "We isolated him, of course."

"...Isolated?"

"Yeah. It wouldn't surprise me if he goes mad one day, and before I solve the problem, I hope to prevent any casualties."

"Where is he?" She demands, worried.

"Go away. I'm not free to chat with you," he insists, moving to walk past her. "That hermit says Zero can't be _here_, so I'm dealing with enough trouble as it is."

"Hey, what are you doing?" Yuuki asks as Yagari approaches the classroom door.

"My job. I'm the Night Class' substitute ethics teacher. Go do your own job, _guardian_." For a time, Yuuki contemplates leaving to do her patrols, but then as she remembers the previous night, and Yagari's attitude, and she sighs. She crosses her arms and leans against the wall, senses on high alert as a commotion begins in the classroom before it falls quiet. At class change, as the next teacher enters the room and Yagari leaves the room, she pushes off the wall.

His book is pierced completely through with a dagger, and his face is incredulously surprised at the sight of her.

"Have you been standing here the entire time? I thought you'd have gone to look for Zero."

"I want to. But as a guardian, I had to remain here to confirm that you would not be killed, or would not kill any students."

"What a good kid," he scoffs, walking forward only to stop close to her, his single eye somehow managing to bore into both of her own. "But even if you're a good kid, there's nothing you can do," he tells her with a dark expression and heavy aura. "If you really want to see him, though, he's in the guest room in Chairman Cross' private quarters. In the faculty building."

As he walks off, there is a terrible struggle in her emotions as she remains in place. She wants to go and see Zero now, but she needs to patrol. She shifts on her feet for a moment before deciding to act rationally, jogging off to do her patrols. Hopefully Zero is being monitored and is thus safe, and so will be there in the morning.

* * *

Knocking on the door to the room she is sure holds Zero behind it, Yuuki shifts in place. She's kind of desperately worried to know he's okay, to know that he hadn't done anything stupid while left by himself. As far as she knows, Cross had been with him, but that idea doesn't really help her feel any better, as Cross has been acting more passive aggressively and flighty lately.

When he opens the door, Yuuki can tell he is visibly surprised. He's wearing a soft looking cotton button up and pajama pants, and looks like he hasn't taken a shower in the past few days.

"Ah, you're okay," she sighs, relieved, though through the crack in the door she can see the edge of a bandage on his right shoulder, probably from the gunshot wound yesterday night.

"Yeah, everything's fine, Yuuki. You should leave," he turns and tries to close the door. With a frown of irritation, she lifts a knee and presses it into the wood, bracing her body weight against it to keep it from closing completely.

"Wait, Zero, why are you staying _here?_ Because of Yagari?"

"Yagari was a guardian and teacher to me and my younger brother. My parents were hardly home," he tells her. Something in Yuuki's chest constricts at the revelation that Zero has a brother. _Well, had. _"When I was younger, I saw my first Level E vampire. She was my school nurse, a very elegant and beautiful lady. But truthfully she was an ex-human vampire who had escaped from the nobles' control. One day, she turned into a savage vampire right in front of our eyes, and… Sensei lost his eye while protecting me. We knew she was a vampire, but due to our belief that all doctors and nurses are good, we were naive." Unspoken is that he is calling her naive, now.

"I didn't know you had a brother. I didn't know that, and we're going to talk about it, but right now, we're going to talk about you being a _dumbass again!" _She slams against the door, forcing it open just enough for her to slip her body into the room, and the door slams loudly closed due to the lack of resistance against Zero's force.

Her hands shake slightly as she pulls the gun out and points it at the ceiling, making it incredibly obvious that she has it.

"You gave me this gun to use against you if you went mad. So, you can't decide to run from me!" She insists. "How am I supposed to keep my promise if you won't let me?!" Seeing that he hasn't yet looked at her, keeping his gaze instead on the door. Staring at him as she lowers the gun, she takes a second to think about whether or not it would be worth it to shoot him, herself, this time. Perhaps it would get the idea through his thick skull.

"Zero if you don't look at me, I'm going to shoot you," she warns, turning off the safety on the gun and cocking the hammer back then sliding backwards the top then releasing it. Zero turns in her direction, visibly reluctant, but does not actually look her in the face despite his head being turned in her direction, his eyes downwards. For an instant, reasoning abandons her, and she fires the gun, the bullet grazing over the same shoulder that was currently injured.

There is no purple sigil, the sound is incredibly loud, and blood spatters on the wall, Zero's face and the floor. He shouts in pain and staggers backwards, one hand lifting to grip at his shoulder as the blood flows thickly downwards. The scent is nearly overwhelming, not at all lessened by water as it had been before, and Yuuki's head nearly goes spinning as the gun drops from suddenly weak fingers. She realizes that she'd dropped a live weapon just slightly too late, but it does not go off due to the lack of bullet in the chamber. She hurries over to Zero with a quiet gasp, grabbing onto the bottom of his shirt and pulling uncertainly, trying to direct him to the bathroom.

"Zero? Zero, I'm sorry, come on. There should be first aid things in the bathroom, right? Come on," she calls. Zero doesn't seem to acknowledge her, but he does follow at her prompting, allowing her to pull him towards the bathroom. He staggers slightly, and she moves to be next to him, wrapping an arm around his waist. "Zero, I really hope you're not going to lose consciousness or control, please, okay? Because I feel really bad about shooting you just now, I didn't really plan to shoot you but it just happened," she babbles as they enter the bathroom and she helps him sit down on the closed lid of the toilet. She shoves a towel beneath the hand holding his injured shoulder, to staunch the blood flow. "And I also really want to bandage this up because I don't want to knock you unconscious while injured."

Noticing the blood staining her sleeves and shoulder, her throat and nose thick with it's scent, she pulls off the jacket and then her similarly stained button up, throwing them into Zero's bathtub before kneeling down to dig through the cabinet beneath the sink to search out the first aid kit. She's left in a tank top and the bottom half of her uniform.

"I hate vampires to the core," Zero eventually says once she has pulled out the kit. She pulls at his arms until he releases his shoulder and she is able to unbutton his shirt. He drops his hand back onto the towel as she peels his shirt away and then tosses that into the bathtub. "And I don't want to hurt anybody, but… I can't control my craving for blood… After tasting your own…"

"But you can," she contradicts, wetting a washcloth at the sink and moving to stand in front of Zero, swatting his hands away and pulling the towel back. He hissed in pain as the slightly rough texture of the towel is pulled away, and she wipes away what blood she can before pressing the wet cloth against the open wound. Zero's head presses forward, resting against her ribs beneath her chest, looking downwards, but she doesn't acknowledge it besides not moving away when she turns to dig through the kit.

"What?"

"You can control it. Your blood-lust. I'm safe right now. We're alone in this bathroom, and you're injured, but I'm in front of you and you're not attacking me. You're in physical contact with me and not attacking me," she explains.

"...I've been taking the blood tablets," he finally says as she places a gauze pad down on the wound.

"Correctly?" She questions, pausing.

"If you mean with water," he tells her. She looks down, and against the cloth of her skirt she can see some luminescence from his apparently glowing red eyes.

"Zero," she calls, rotating her hips slightly to shift Zero's head aside. He mumbles an acknowledgement as she tapes down the gauze. "Even if you hate vampires, or yourself, or even me, you shouldn't give up just yet. Hating me is okay, and hating vampires is okay so long as you don't do so recklessly," she says, "but I'm going to do my best to help you if you hate yourself."

"Hate… you? It's alright to hate you?" Zero repeats, his voice sounding somehow simultaneously flat and angry. "What's wrong with you?" Zero asks. She doesn't respond, tapping down the tape so it's in place firmly, and when she moves to step away from Zero, feeling like he might not want her so close anymore, his arms lift and wrap around her waist heavily, his head lowering and turning to he is resting a chin on the space above her hips, face angled away from her. "I don't."

Yuuki rests her hands on Zero's shoulder blade on his back, fingers splayed, and tries to make herself make sense before she begins to babble or bursts into tears again.

"Zero… Don't give up," she says finally. "Right now, you're more than just Zero. You're an important person to me, and one of the only people I think I can completely rely on."

"Yuuki…"

"If you go mad with hunger, Zero, and it doesn't look like you can be saved, I'll kill you. But… if it just gets to be terrible to survive off of blood tablets, I could donate blood. I won't let you bite me again, because that was terrifying and painful, but I could probably literally donate blood and then steal it from them to pour into a flask or something. You'd have to be careful, but-"

Zero's hand covers her face and he glares into her eyes.

_"Absolutely not, you_ _moron_," he snaps flatly. "Just shut up. I'll deal with the tablets or I'll die."

"Sorry." Zero groans, releasing her and leaning back to drag a hand down his face. Yuuki steps back and sits on the edge of the bathtub, crossing her legs at the ankles and resting her hands on the edges of the tub to maintain her balance.

"I don't hate you. Not now," he repeats eventually, looking at her face intently.

"But someday?"

"I don't know," he answers, looking down towards the floor and away from her. Yuuki frowns.

"Hey, Zero?" He looks back up to her. "Stop being a dumbass, okay? Don't leave me behind, and don't run away from me," she instructs. His lips quirk a little and gives her a small nod before she leans forward, uncrossing her ankles and resting her elbows on her knees. "You mentioned a brother?"

"I... " Zero shifts, leaning backwards and looking away from her. "I used to have a little brother. My twin. He died on that day…"

"What was his name?" She asks gently.

"Ichiru," he tells her after a pause. Studying his tense form, Yuuki pushes into a stand and walks closer to him, hesitating before reaching out and hugging him. He tenses as his face is pushed against her solar plexus, and before he can react, she steps back and away, turning to the door.

"See you tomorrow," she calls from behind, leaving the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

* * *

As she makes her way across the grounds, buttoning up the shirt she'd stolen from Zero, she looks up and around. It's pretty late, probably in the early AM, as she hadn't gone to see Zero until she'd escorted the Night Class students to their dorms. Artemis is in its holster and the gun is in a pocket rather than holstered, Yuuki not really feeling comfortable with the metal pressed against her skin. There's a sound behind her, and Yuuki turns, the rod falling into her grasp but not yet extending.

Kaname's standing behind her, and Artemis finds its way back up her sleeve as she frowns.

"Kaname-nii? What're you doing out of your dorm now?"

"I had a meeting with Chairman Cross. And you, Yuuki?" He asks, walking closer to her.

"I'm making my way home after patrols," the lie is out of her mouth before she can rethink it, and Kaname stops in front of her, looking into her eyes. She reaches a hand up to rub at her neck, resisting the urge to crack it. There's something dark in his gaze, old and lonely and sad, and it hurts her chest to see it. When she was younger, she would just hug him and hope to drive it away, but she's older now, and something about Kaname has unsettled her lately. She's no longer so sure that initiating hugs or contact with Kaname will be so innocent or simple.

"After ten years…" Kaname's arms reach out, one hand cradling the back of her head before tugging her close to his body in a hug. There's a conflict in her emotions even as her hands reach up to grip the back of his Night Class jacket. "This is all that has changed."

She's fairly certain he's talking about her lying straight to his face, but can't help the thought that he's lying, too. Finally he releases her, and she steps away from him. The scent of cigarette smoke brushes past her senses.

"Goodnight, Yuuki."

"Goodnight, Kaname-nii," she replies, not walking away. With a minuscule smile, Kaname inclines his head and turns to walk away first. She should really escort him to the dorms, but instead she turns and makes her way in the opposite direction, trusting Yagari to take him seriously and do better than she might have done.

Zero isn't in class when it starts. As Yuuki and Yori sit down, Yuuki wheedling Yori for class notes and Yori teasing her about her half-done braid, Yuuki notices the empty seat. She frowns, and when he fails to appear all throughout the first class, and before the second class can start, when there is no sign of Zero, she stands.

"I'll be back, sensei!" She calls."I'm going to try and find Zero!" She jobs out without waiting for an answer, ghosting a hand over Yori's head as she goes. When she's outside, she breaks into a sprint. She will either drag Zero to class by the hair, or she's going to find Zero in a terrible condition. She probably should not have left him by himself, but at the revelation of a dead twin brother, she's figured that her pseudo brother would like some time alone.

She goes directly to the headmaster guest rooms, bursting into Zero's accommodated room.

"Zero, do I need to-" she shouts before her words shrivel up and die in her throat.

Yagari is standing in Zero's room, and she can see Bloody Rose aimed directly for his head. Zero looks incredibly calm before his eyes meet hers and go wide. Yuuki's legs move before she can think twice. She lunges forward, Artemis falling into her grasp and swinging for Yagari's head before she can plan ahead, and at the same instant Zero's hands lash out to try and take Bloody Rose from him. Yagari moves too quickly, however, and he turns, firing a shot into Yuuki's chest. The force sends her skidding backwards and then falling, balance unsettled, and she manages to tuck into a roll.

She's prepared to launch at him again, but Zero has managed to disarm Yagari by the time she is upright again, the barrel of Bloody Rose tucked into his fist as Zero pivots and makes his way closer to Yuuki with a wary look in his eyes. Yagari stares at her with an unidentifiable emotion in his single eye before he sighs, one hand lifting to his face.

"Wouldn't it be a good thing to be killed by me?" Yagari asks before his palm is pressed tight against his eye-patch. "After all… "I won't let you regret losing your right eye to save me." That day, you made me an oath. Seeing you like this makes me want to kill you." His hand lowers and he continues. "I kind of feel that doing so will make me more comfortable- happier, even."

Yagari turns to look at Zero then.

"While you can still fight, struggle to your heart's content, but don't run away, Zero," he says as he makes his way out of the room. As he passes by them, Yuuki's still jack-hammering heart lurches in her chest and her grip on Artemis tightens. He stops, though, by the door.

"Hey, little girl!"

"I'm not a little girl, you wannabe pirate," she snaps before quailing. _W-where did that come from?!_ Zero snorts softly and the man twitches before inhaling.

"His arm needs stitches, not only bandages. And… once he breaks down, you must stop him. I've been doing all of this for his own good-" she barely holds back a scoff as he lifts a suitcase she hadn't noticed before, "from now on it's up to you."

"For his own good? _You tried to kill him-!"_

"If I wanted to kill him, I wouldn't have left only a wound. Missing a shot from that distance? You must be joking." He scoffs before abandoning the suitcase he'd been visibly struggling with. "Ah, I'll just send for this suitcase some other time. I'm a busy man, no time to waste on things like this." He sighs before looking at Zero. "Goodbye. I want to see you alright at our next meeting. Zero…" A terrible feeling curdles in her stomach. "That woman… there's signs that she's alive."

And then Yagari is gone, and Yuuki hears Bloody Rose clatter out of Zero's grip as his hand lifts to grip at the side of his neck, over his tattoo. His legs seem to give out from under him, and Yuuki contemplates hitting him with Artemis for an instant before just collapsing it and tucking it away, circling around to crouch down in front of Zero's downed form.

"If you hadn't stayed in your room, and if I hadn't come to drag you out, you would have died, Zero," her voice is quiet, and she can't look Zero in the eyes. "You would have let him kill you." Something in her chest clenches and twists in pain and something like betrayal, Zero's calm accepting face flashing in her mind's eye.

"Yuuki…" Zero murmurs before a hand lands on her head. The warm pressure coaxes a few tears out of her eyes, and her knees fall so she's sitting rather than crouching. She lifts a hand to fist at her eyes with a miserable sniff. "I won't try to run away anymore. So… don't cry, okay?" Sniffing once more, she shifts slightly before rubbing her eyes again, this time more angrily, and swallowing. One hand lashes out, and she grabs onto his forearm, using her feet to push herself straight forward. Her head punches into Zero's stomach, and she uses her grip on his arm to drag him over her shoulder.

Staggering to her feet and holding Zero's considerably large body in a fireman's carry, Yuuki stalls for a second before pivoting, his body still from shock giving her the perfect chance to slam him into the ground as hard as she can, her shoulder impacting hard with his chest as a huge gust of air and a shout of pain bursts from Zero.

"Don't make me shoot you again! Go get stitches, and come to class _tomorrow_, at least!" She shouts, rushing from the room in the next instant.

* * *

**OMAKE: The Bathroom Scene Cut**

"Sorry." Zero groans, releasing her and leaning back to drag a hand down his face. Yuuki steps back and sits on the edge of the bathtub and then turns on the water, ignoring the fact that their tops are still inside.

"What are you doing?"

"Sound interference. What did you say we need to talk about? Seems important," She prompts, crossing her legs at the ankles and resting her hands on the edges of the tub to maintain her balance. Zero stares at her for a long moment before he shifts, planting his feet more firmly against the tiled floor and resting his hands on his thighs.

"You said you can rely on me, right? Then trust me," he tells her before grimacing, looking away from her. "I don't think you're completely human."

"What?" She asks faintly, a zinging pain going through her head suddenly, accompanied by a piercing cry she can't identify the origins of. With a wince, a hand comes up to press against her temple. "Ow!"

"Yuuki?"

"No, I'm fine. Headache. What do you mean?"

"You look almost exactly like Kuran, but tinier and a girl," he reveals.

_"Nii-sama! Nii-sama! Nii-sama! Nii-"_

"Oh," her voice is faint and hard for her to hear as she tries to silence the voice in her head. "So that's actually a thing and not something that I made up in my head to feel less alone."

"You noticed?"

"Yeah, a long time ago. But I didn't want to say anything, and it seemed like a stupid thing to say, anyway. As far as I know, I'm completely human. Maybe I wasn't before, though."

"Before?"

"Did I ever explain how I came to live with Cross?"

"No."

"When I was maybe five or so, I woke up in the middle of nowhere in a blizzard. I was alone, and I couldn't remember anything. I was attacked by a Level E while I was out there, and Kaname saved me by killing the vampire, and then brought me to Cross. Pretty soon after, I realized that I looked a lot like him, but I thought that was just me being stupid and desperate."

"No, the similarity is there," Zero confirms after some incredulous silence at her incredibly nonchalant and abbreviated explanation. "I don't understand how you can look so similar but not be a vampire at all."

"Artemis sparks in my hands sometimes, even if it doesn't hurt, and responds even when I don't release the mechanism. Bloody Rose almost burns through my skin any time I touch it," she notes, "which brings to question why you can use it, but I guess that's just one of life's mysteries, and Kaname is incredibly partial to me for reasons I could never understand."

"Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I'm _human_. Kaname's a pureblood vampire - there's no drop of human blood running through his veins," she reminds. Then, staring into Zero's face, a hesitant thought occurs to her. "Zero… you hate vampires."

"Yuuki-"

"Do you hate me?" She asks. "Even if I'm human now, I was a pureblood vampire, before, and I might become so again."

"... I don't like the thought," he admits, "but I don't hate you. Not now."

"But someday?"

"I don't know," he answers, looking down towards the floor and away from her. Yuuki frowns and reaches over to turn off the bathtub once more.


	17. Seventh Night

**And the next chapter! Soonish, updates might slow down. Summer is coming and I've been using school computers during study periods to work on this story in google docs, instead of relying solely on my phone. I'll do my best to post a chapter a week though, at the very least!**

**I dislike this chapter because I feel like I got it a little out of order but I've mixed canon with original stuff, and did my best. There's some subtext that Yuuki doesn't notice in this chapter, can you guys?**

**_To the guest who mentioned inbreeding, you've got a point? They do look a lot alike, and it _is _fairly obvious. My idea is that, in canon, people not seeing it was a mix of their drastically different attitudes/auras and Kaname's "otherness" that comes from his vampirism._**

**_Maxie01, thanks? I'm doing my best. I'm glad you're liking it!_**

**_Vivi Nefretari, basically, yes. The general idea _is _canon for my story but I'm impatient and jumped the gun and so almost included it early. Leaving it out seemed pointless though, since I've been saying it in my review responses for the past 8 or so chapters._**

* * *

"I need you two to go and collect someone from the Moon Dorm for me," Cross chirps, sitting behind his desk and steepling his fingers together. From where they stand in front of his desk, Zero and Yuuki exchange a quick glance. Kaname is usually the one to do retrievals for Cross when it involves vampires.

"Who?" Zero asks, visibly not wanting to do anything of the sort.

"An important supporter of the academy from the Senate, Ichijou Asato. He's the head of the Senate, and our academy is about to come under vote again, so we must speak," he explains seriously.

"He knows the rules of the campus?" Yuuki does a quick check, uneasy about an adult vampire being on school grounds without any escorts. _Why hadn't we been called earlier?_

"Oh, yes," Cross confirms with a brilliant smile. "He doesn't understand why I'm so adamant about this school's continuation, but he's not going to muck anything up. Still, it would be best if you went to get him as soon as possible."

"Understood!" Yuuki turns and trots out of the room, Zero on her heels, and she waits until they're out of the building to begin speaking. "...Why didn't he call us earlier? He just let a vampire roam school grounds?" She complains, feeling confused and a little hurt.

"He probably didn't think about it," Zero comments. "You know how he gets."

"... Yeah," she sighs. Cross is really naive and optimistic, sometimes a little air-headed. He probably has known Ichijou for a long time, and thus trusts him to act appropriately even if he is not obligated to do so. They make their way to the dorms, and as they approach can see two figures through the open doors of the dorm, one dressed as a stereotypical vampire with a flowing dark cape with a popped collar. Yuuki can identify his hair as blonde, and standing across from him is Takuma. _That must be Ichijou Asato, then._

A breeze blows toward Yuuki, ruffling the man's cape, and she can smell recently spilled blood, hair gel and ink. Her lips purse slightly and she picks up speed, Zero not doing the same, falling slightly behind, presumably to maintain a wider watch area.

"...The narrow world of this school, a friendship built on the basis of hypocritical peace," she is able to hear Ichijou say before interrupting, not willing to wait for his little speech to be over.

"Cross Academy _is_ peaceful, for the most part," she admonishes. And it's true, for the most part.

"Yuuki-chan!" Takuma yelps.

"You're Ichijou Asato, correct? We have been asked to escort you to Chairman Cross," she explains when she comes to a complete stop. She hears Zero climb the stone stairs behind her as the man turns towards her with an aura thick with incredulous malice and narrowed, icy eyes.

"I'll definitely be asking Chairman Cross on this, but I will also ask you, girl. Is it true that an active duty vampire hunter was allowed onto school grounds some time ago?" _There's no way to answer that without causing all sorts of problems!_ There was a quick moment, on her part, of panicked internal flailing before she hears Zero step just behind her.

"The Chairman will want to clarify that matter with you himself," he tells the man. "If you want your answers, you will have to come with us."

"What a thick-skinned man…" Ichijou sighs. "Forget it. Lead on, then. I'll find out myself." Ichijou begins to walk on, and Zero and Yuuki both begin to follow, neither willing to actually walk in front of him.

"Wait, Yuuki-chan!" Takuma calls, grabbing onto her arm. She turns with a small jolt, looking into earnest green eyes and a serious face. Takuma releases her quickly, and she takes a small step away for good measure as Zero and Ichijou get further away. "Did anything happen between you and Kaname?"

"Nothing happened. Why do you ask?" She frowns.

"Nothing much, really… Just... Kaname doesn't confide his worries in me. I thought that if I ask you, you'd know something about it."

"Ah, no… He doesn't really confide in me, either, you know?"

"But weren't you close to Kaname before?" Takuma asks, eyes narrowing slightly on her, not in anger but more like in consideration. "You probably know a side of Kaname that we don't know at all…"

"Maybe," she admits, "but not anymore."

She turns away from his gaze and trots off after Zero and Ichijou.

* * *

"Stop moving every time you fire," Zero tells her with an irritated sigh. Lowering the normal gun she'd been using to aim down towards the paper silhouette, Yuuki huffs slightly, her weight shifting. She flicks the safety on as she props her fists onto her hips.

"I don't mean to! I keep expecting to get knocked around by the recoil, and anyways, I'm not used to just standing still like you are," she complains, which is true. Her fighting style is a lot of moving, dodging and lunging and twirling. Zero's style involves being immovable, and hitting with solid, resounding force when he _does _move.

His head rocks back and he lowers his own gun with a groan, dropping it onto the counter and walking towards her.

"Get back into position," he instructs. She huffs and does so, almost forgetting to turn the safety back off before she cocks it back and takes aim. Her legs immediately start to shift as her finger presses down on the trigger, and Zero presses up close behind her, his legs caging her own in place as his arms grip the table to keep himself balanced. Her torso immediately sways off center as the gun fires, her balance compromised, and her head cracks into Zero's chin with a sharp jerk.

She yelps and hunches slightly, releasing the gun and cradling her head in her hands as Zero stumbles back with a hiss. The gun clatters to the ground and goes off, thankfully towards the far wall rather than at any of them, and she yelps again, louder, and she hears him mutter something under his breath.

_"Didn't think that one through..."_

"I… I think I prefer the anti-vampire gun. It seems safer," she comments, sharp eyes catching sight of the small crater in the wall from the bullet. Neither of them are, after all, bullet proof, and while the anti-vampire weapon could seriously hurt Zero, all it would do to her would be pushing her with the force of the bullet rather than being pierced by it, and maybe a burn. "For me, at least."

"How you managed to shoot that Level E is beyond me," Zero comments blandly. There's an unidentifiable sting in her chest at the reminder of the vampire, and the incident she'd been doing her best to forget, and she quietly picks the gun back up, straightening out. Zero sits down behind her in a criss-cross, hands reaching out and grabbing a hold of her calves through her sweatpants. At her questioning look, he nudges his head towards the targets once more. With a shrug she checks the cartridge for more ammo, finds it sufficient and aims.

She realizes Zero's intention immediately as, when her feet begin to move, his hands prevent them from doing so. This is a simpler and easier position than what he'd been doing before. Relaxing, she aims a little better and then fires three times. The first shot hits in the silhouettes shoulder, but the other two hit it in the chest. They're not center, but that isn't what she'd been wanting.

Popping out the empty cartridge she replaces it with a new one and aims once more, cocking it back and firing several shots in quick succession, feeling Zero release her in the midst of the firing. Once she stops, her ears are ringing but she's hit the chest with each shot and her legs have stopped trying to move with every pull of the trigger.

She fires twice more to check and her legs remain in place. She turns on the safety before dropping the gun onto the table and turning to Zero with a triumphant expression.

"So I've figured out guns. Want to try and learn staff fighting?" She offers with a grin. He gives her a blank, unamused look.

"No," he refuses, planting his hands on the floor as he pushes himself up into a crouch and then a stand. "Come on, it's getting late."

"Ah?" She casts a glance over to the clock above the sub-basement door and finds that it's just about 3 am, meaning that they really do need to head back upstairs. "Oh, yeah. Dibs on the shower!"

Zero snorts and makes his way up the stairs ahead of her, and Yuuki hops impatiently where she trails behind, noticing his purposefully slow pace. She'd try and push him to go faster, but last time she'd done so, she'd had to carry him to the top of the stairs. Which, while not at all impossible, was annoying because of his height and the fact that he'd become dead weight then stiff as a board randomly and throw her off balance, because he's irritating and petty like that.

She'd really rather not fall down the stairs with him on top of her again, thanks. That had _hurt._

Once free of the stairwell she runs to her bedroom, collecting her clothes and then running for the single bathroom of the house. When she gets there, Cross is blinking bemusedly at the door, which is closed.

"Did Zero-?"

"Yes, Kiryuu-kun is in there, now," he tells her with a small smile. "Were you racing?"

"I _guess_ we were," she grumbles, dropping onto a nearby chaise to wait him out as the sound of the shower starts up behind the door. Cross approaches to run a hand down the top of her head to the back of her neck atop her braid, offering her a fond look before he makes his way to his study.

Yuuki's hands begin to undo her braid as she waits, and she starts to drift off when she hits her neck, her hands slowing and her fingers tangling into her hair as her body lists backwards and her eyes fall almost entirely closed. She dozes on the couch for awhile, not even aware of the light being eventually turned off, before humid air rushes over her skin and light brushes over her eyes. She twitches but can't work up the energy to move, and she hears approaching footsteps.

"She's asleep…?" Zero blinks in surprise, one hand using a towel to run over his dripping hair. He drops the towel around his neck and approaches the limp figure of Yuuki on the couch, bending down to reach out and reach a hand for her shoulder. "Hey, Yuuki. I'm out of the shower, wake…"

He trails off, face falling blank for a moment as, through her eyelashes, Yuuki sees his eyes drift to her neck. His eyes widen slightly and he withdraws his hand, dropping to a knee and then rotating to sit with his back against her legs. She can no longer see his face, but she can see a hint of a hand gripping onto his throat, his breath controlled but heavy. He looks to the side, and then jolts. Yuuki begins to wake up further, but has the feeling that she should pretend to still be sleeping.

"Don't be so alarmed," a familiar voice says. Kaname's voice has a hint of amusement, but it isn't at all good spirited. "I have business with the Chairman. I used to come uninvited all the time, remember? But, by the way… I've never told you why I acquiesce to your existence… have I?"

Zero says nothing, but he moves in a way that Yuuki thinks might be him moving in front of her. _To protect me from Kaname? Why would he…?_

"I know this school is a risk, but I did a lot of thinking. I wondered, who could become a shield for Yuuki in this place...? You could never betray her, you are under her obligation… and you are being let live only for her, _by me."_ She hears his steps fade away, and Yuuki can clearly understand his threat just now, and while she can recognize that what Kaname had said was true, she does not like the way he'd said it.

She doesn't want Zero to feel obligated to her, and she doesn't like that Kaname just said he could kill Zero any time, no matter the truth of such a statement. Yuuki opens her eyes completely and frowns with worry, straightening up, and she looks over at Zero.

He looks calm, if not a little irritated.

"Zero," she tries to call for his attention. He doesn't look at her, but she can tell that he's paying her attention. "I… have you had any blood tablets today?" She derails her initial statement and Zero's figure goes tense before he mutters something under his breath and leaves the room. Staring groggily after him, she finally shrugs and gathers up her clothes, making her way into the bathroom. Once the door is closed behind her she realizes just how humid and steamy the bathroom is, and it's disorienting for the few moments after her entrance before she manages to get her bearings.

There's a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she ignores it, untangling her hair and then running her fingers through it before looking in the mirror.

For a second, it's as though her reflection isn't actually her reflection, and her mirror image moves independently from her. Her eyes go wide and there's a brief blurriness she associates with her eyes trying to focus on something better, but when her gaze settles, her reflection is back to normal. She shakes her head and, after a quick look around, decides to just shower then go to her room.

In the end she gets only an hour of sleep, and when she wakes up, she's initially not sure why she's done so. She has an hour before she needs to be awake for the switch over, but with a sign, she acknowledges that going back to sleep is unlikely and climbs out of bed. She takes a glance into her vanity mirror and finds her face looking none the worse for wear despite her exhaustion, and then makes her way out of her room and down the hall, to the kitchen. As she passes Cross' study, she very carefully doesn't alter her course or speed as she overhears the conversation going on inside.

"I'm sorry, but you have no right to say no to this."

Part of her bristles but she does nothing, not wanting to draw attention to herself just yet, and once in the kitchen, she digs out the eggs from the fridge. She sets to making herself scrambled eggs, and at some point, Zero arrives in the room, Cross in tow.

"Yuuki-chan?" Cross calls for her attention.

"Yes, father?" She asks, unwilling to derail the conversation with his dramatics. He inhales sharply as though to go into hysterics anyways before noticing her actual words and beaming at her before his face falls once more and he brings a file into her line of sight.

"This is a test from the Hunter's Association for Zero. He asked if he could have you as a partner, and while I won't register you as a hunter, it's up to you." He slides the file over to her as she places her salted scrambled eggs down and sits across from them. He leaves after that, maybe reading the mood, and Yuuki eats a little egg before speaking.

"Will you give me the summary, or should I read through the file?" She inquires.

"There is a level E a few towns over, and while it's confirmed that he's been killing, there are also many girls missing," he tells her.

"Why do you want me to come?" She asks next. The look he gives her says volumes and she kind of wants to laugh but refrains. "Fine, I'll come along," she sighs. "Honestly, you're so dumb sometimes…"

"_I'm_ dumb?"

"Shut up, you suicidal baby," she complains as she eats more eggs. Zero reaches over and steals an egg chunk from her plate at the exact same time that he kicks her in the shin, and she almost chokes on her fork.

"Naive midget," he counters as he pops the egg into his mouth with a smug but somehow simultaneously disinterested air.

* * *

They track the vampire into a run down warehouse district the next day, the smell of blood faint but everywhere, which is incredibly ominous. They've both skipped class (honestly, failing is almost a certainty for them, Yuuki is pretty sure), and they're in casual clothes to hopefully blend in better.

Well, they're in casual clothes, but Zero seems to be incapable of blending in. Which is understandable, because he's wearing dark clothes underneath a tan trench-coat done completely up and with the collar popped. She, in comparison, is wearing a black turtleneck and red tartan skirt with bike shorts beneath that, her feet covered with black knee high socks and her boots. Artemis is holstered on her arm, the gun holstered on her thigh beneath the folds of her skirt, and Zero has Bloody Rose on his person.

When Zero enters the building they'd both identified had the strongest scent of blood through the front door, Yuuki scales to a high window and, as stealthily as possible, climbs inside. She takes in the situation as quickly as she possibly can, senses on high alert. Now that she's inside, the scent of blood is so thick she can nearly taste it on her tongue, which is really not comforting. The vampire is sitting as far from the light as he is able, looking to be asleep or nearly so, a young girl clutched in his arms and draped limply across his lap. The girl seems fine, though unconscious.

"Who is it?" The vampire calls, a glowing red eye opening and fixing on Zero, who has aimed Bloody Rose at his head.

"Four teenage girls were found dead," Zero says instead of answering. "Three more girls have gone missing. Was it you?" The vampire lifts his head.

"You shouldn't be asking such things, you should've just shot me," he taunts with a snicker, one of his fingers digging into the girl's neck and drawing blood. "Thanks to you, I can slit this girl's throat before you can pull the trigger. Are you perhaps new, Mr. Kind Hunter?" He reaches one hand out as he stands, Zero having frozen in front of him, and a door Yuuki hadn't noticed begins to open behind him. Yuuki draws her gun and takes aim silently, but doesn't fire. All Zero had asked of her was to let him do his mission, and only interfere if it looked like there was no other choice. "I feel sympathy for you, that you cannot sacrifice nor save this hostage," he cackles before disappearing, the door closing in his wake.

Zero chuckles faintly, the sound strained and resigned, and Yuuki remains in the window, watching him with concern. One of his hands reaches up to press to his face as he laughs.

"Why are vampires like this?" He asks rhetorically before his laughter trails off and he then says in a more serious voice, hand lowering. "I'll finish you off." He then takes off without acknowledging her at all or saying anything else, and Yuuki has a second to decide to abandon the plan they'd come up with and begin circling around on the first floor, occasionally hopping out of windows and checking the outer walls for any sign of the vampire.

Soon, though, she hears voices and makes her way in that direction, the gun up and ready to fire.

"-going to be more clever than usual. Oh, Yuuki," Rima greets with a mildly surprised look as Yuuki watches Senri nimbly climb through the shattered window into the large room, keeping a wary eye out for any sign of the vampire, lowering her gun to her side but not engaging the safety.

"Rima, Senri. Why are you-"

"Oh? His comrades, maybe?" A voice catches her attention, and she looks up to find the vampire poking his head and torso out of a fissure in the wall several feet up. "Are you, perhaps, intending to take my dessert from me?" The way his eyes focus on her is unsettling and her hand grips the gun tighter, beginning to lift as the vampire jumps from the crack and lands in front of them, though a few feet away, in a crouch.

Yuuki has already fired by the time the vampire lunges forwards, but a hand on her head distracts her in the nick of time for the vampire to dodge her attack that would have killed him and ended this entire problem.

There's a small shiver of distaste, of blandness, of resignation, that is provoked by the idea of murder. She should be in no state to be continuing caring about anything, or to be so desensitized to murder, as she'd been ill just remembering it for awhile now and had cried herself into exhaustion, but some part of her has already accepted that and moved on to other more interesting things.

Yuuki shies away from that line of thought as soon as she acknowledges it.

"Let me," Senri bids as he pulls her back and lifts a hand up to his mouth, biting into his thumb and drawing blood with the action. The blood from his wound surges disproportionately, and as he throws the limb outwards, blood sails off, forming into whip-like shapes. A majority of which crack stone but have done no damage to the vampire, who then promptly vanishes.

"Oops. He ran away," Senri noted.

"So chase him," Rima commands, which leads to Senri promptly complaining, and then an argument between the friends that Yuuki can tell is not serious. But despite the tension lessening, it really isn't the time to dawdle and watch them bicker, so Yuuki separates from them to search out either Zero or the vampire. She makes her way through a room and barely notices the floor nearby giving way before a hand lashes out to try and catch her ankle, viper quick. She manages to dodge backwards, gun going off but missing, the nails leaving gouges in her lower calf. The floor falls away even further to reveal a large hole in the floor, and the vampire begins to climb out of it, one hand to his mouth as he licks the digits clean.

"You should come with me. I'll treat you very well," he coaxes, as though she's just going to listen to him. She lifts her gun to fire at the approaching vampire, but does not get the chance, as there's rushing footsteps moving above her and behind her. She doesn't turn away from the vampire, and a second gun goes off from the origin of the steps, the bullet piercing through the vampire's reaching hand. The man jerks backwards towards the still crumbling hole with a pained snarl, and Zero jumps down then rushes past her, muttering something to himself that she cannot hear and bowling into the vampire so hard that they both fall into the hole. The ground gives out beneath Yuuki and she ends up skidding downwards into the hole as well.

"Don't touch her with those dirty hands of yours," Zero snaps, though his voice is faint as Yuuki lays on the ground, feeling kind of dazed. "This is your end." Yuuki hears Bloody Rose's hammer cocking back and turns the safety of her own gun on as she begins to sit up, looking over to find Zero with both of his knees planted on the vampire's back, Bloody Rose against the back of his head.

"Oh man, I was caught," the vampire smiles, and it seems more sincere now. "But now I don't have to kill people anymore."

Zero fires then, the vampire turning to white dust and Zero's knees cracking down onto the stone. As Yuuki gets closer, she catches sight of Zero's blank face and his unfocused eyes as the dust drifts around him for a time before beginning to settle. She takes a moment to think about how she might help, not sure if this is the first time Zero's even killed something but knowing that it's a terrible feeling to know that it's so easy to end a life.

"Hey, Zero-" She calls as she approaches before she's interrupted.

"Oi, guardians," Rima's voice calls from the edge of the hole. Yuuki looks up to find her crouching down to peer at them over the edge, Senri standing a few feet behind but in sight, with a girl slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "We found this girl over there," she gestures off to her right, "and what are we supposed to do with her? She's still alive."

"Oh, she's alive?" Yuuki smiles a little, relieved. "Thanks, we'll be up to collect her in a minute."

"Alright," Rima nods and stands, and they both walk away from the hole, presumably to give them the illusion of privacy. Yuuki turns back to Zero, who hasn't moved.

"Zero, you hear that? The hostage is safe. And so are you, and so am I. Good job," she offers hesitantly. When he looks at her, she gives him a smile, relieved that he'd pulled himself to awareness without any extensive prodding on her part. His eyes widen slightly and he pales as something occurs to him, but he doesn't tell her anything and allows her to drag him to his feet.

She doesn't ask about what occurred to him, instead pulling him to the side of the hole and bullying him into pushing her up to the ledge so she can climb out easier. Once she's out, she turns to offer Zero a hand up, but he's already maneuvering his way up by himself. She smiles a little more to herself before turning towards the two vampires lingering at the side of the room, making her way closer.

"Were you two sent by Kaname-nii to hunt down that Level E?" She questions them as they turn to look at her as well, face becoming serious. They both offer her nods of greeting, only flicking their eyes in Zero's direction before Rima speaks up.

"Yeah, he wanted to take care of things as quickly as possible," she confirms.

"I see. Well, shall we go?" She questions. "Do you have a ride to get back?"

"There's a car waiting," Senri tells her as Zero takes the girl from him and drapes her over his own shoulder.

"Alright. Well, you can get going," Yuuki bids, "We'll be fine."

"You don't want a ride?" Rima asks, eyebrows lifting.

"No, that's alright," her eyes flick over to Zero, who's waiting quietly for Yuuki to finish her conversation, which makes her feel warm and happy. She squashes down the feeling so she won't smile like an idiot and turns her attention back to the vampires, who watch her quietly before nodding, Senri and Rima both inclining their torsos slightly at her before making their way to the window they'd entered from and climbing out. "So, what now?" She asks, looking over at Zero.

"Now we report in to the Chairman about this girl, and then I write my report about this so he can send it in."

"Alright," she nods, and they begin to make their way out of the district before looking over at Zero. "How are we going to act when we have to get on the train?" She asks, because that's their mode of transportation- a train between this town and the town nearest Cross Academy, then a walk from the town to the Academy. "And what if she wakes before we manage to get there?"

"She's not going to. And pretend nothing is wrong. Nobody will say anything," Zero tells her. Yuuki nods in acceptance, and quietly lets her thoughts wander, multiple trains of thought unfurling and tangling together.


	18. Eighth Night

**So, as I'm reading back on what I've written and as Yuuki is getting older and more stressed out, I'm noticing that she's becoming progressively more like me when I get stressed out. When I started writing this, I was pretty mellow and even tempered, evidenced by my more formal language. But I'm currently getting stressed out and tired, and when I get like this, I write and talk more informally and I get really snappish. Which is starting to pop up in Yuuki's personality.**

**Yuuki's never gotten exceptionally stressed out. She's always had people to help her wind down, or people to support her. That's starting to get less and less likely to be present, and she's starting to snowball. I'm doing my best to keep her characterization stable and believable, but it's getting a little hard. Let me know if her personality starts getting out of hand or out of character, or if you notice anything that I included in subtext but Yuuki didn't see. I want to know if I was as subtle as I think I'm being.**

**What, no reviews for the last chapter? Was it really so terrible? Here's the next chapter, featuring Maria Kurenai, more canon twisted around to suit my own ends, lots of tiny time skips and Yuuki being willfully blind!** **Also Yori (who is possibly my favorite character right now) being a good friend!**

* * *

Yawning as she makes her way towards the school building behind the Night Class, Yuuki's head aches as the Day Class yowls insistently for attention. Zero is next to her for once, and is the only thing that's keeping the students back, she's pretty sure. As they go, though, a girl begins to creep her way past Zero and the invisible boundary line, and he doesn't even look at her before speaking.

"If you go one step ahead of me," he says with deliberate calm,_ "I'll make you cry."_

The girl freezes, and the surrounding students begin to encourage her, insisting that Zero's been mellowing out lately, and she shouldn't worry, and Zero looks at her with a blank expression, his aura thick with malice and contempt.

"Don't cause any trouble." The students stall for a second before they seem to realize that the vampires have begun to enter the school building, and they surge forwards, a majority of them hitting into Yuuki's extended arms.

"Back off!" Yuuki snaps, internally incredibly confused. _What's with the fervor?_

"Just one photo!" A girl angrily pleads.

_"No!"_A hand drops onto her shoulder and she turns sharply to see who has touched her- it's Aidou. Her stomach heaves and her heart beats with painful force.

"Want me to help you push them back?" He offers, giving the girls a blinding smile before grabbing onto her arm and dragging her backwards into the school building. Despite the witnesses, she can't help the peal of panic and primal terror from boiling upwards in her emotions, and she turns to try and find Zero, spotting his head of silver hair some distance away amid the mob of students.

"Zero-!" She called loudly before the doors closed in her face, cutting off her call. Yuuki pulls against his grip, but it's strong, and a quick glance around reveals mostly impassive eyes watching her. "Please let go of me, Aidou," she says between gritted teeth, struggling away from him with steady but ineffectual force.

"What's with that attitude? I helped you," the blonde complains.

"Aidou," Kaname's voice cuts through the air and Aidou's hand releases her instantly, Kain approaching and grabbing onto the back of his neck and dragging him backwards as Yuuki backs towards the doors. "Yuuki," her gazes turns to her brother figure, "you'll get hurt if you work too hard."

The doors behind her burst open, and two hands land on her waist, lifting her into the air like a doll.

"What are you doing, getting abducted? Lets go," Zero grumbles, turning with her in his grasp before tucking her under one arm, using his free hand to close the doors behind them as they emerge into the crowd outside.

"Disperse!" She shouts as Zero releases her, letting her stand on her own in front of the doors next to him. "Go to your dorms, or there will be consequences!" There's a bubble of irritation as they don't listen, and next to her, Zero drops a hand onto her shoulder. There's a feeling like dragging bone across a nail file, shivers and nausea going through her body before the group falls silent and backs up several steps, all eyes on her. "Go back to your dorms," her voice carries in the silence, and the students begin to do as told for once.

Next to her, Zero shifts and his hand tightens on her shoulder.

"Yuuki?"

"Ah?" She looks up to find his gaze on her before she looks back out over the students,

"What was that?" She shrugs quietly before stepping away from him.

"Thanks for the save, Zero, but I have to go now. Cross asked me to meet him before I start my patrols," she smiles at him and he blinks before looking away.

"Alright. Want me to wait for you?" She shakes her head.

"No, the Day Class has been very insistent and excitable lately, so it would probably be best if you started your patrols now." He nods and they separate, Yuuki making her way to the Headmaster's office in a quick jog. A few hairs from her braid escape along her hairline and fall against her face, tickling the skin there, and she reaches up to tuck the dark strand behind her ears. "You called for me?" She inquires as she pushes open the Headmaster's door a few minutes later.

"Ah, yes. There's a new Night Class student coming today, and I want you to escort her to her classes until she gets a feel for the grounds," Cross explains, standing in front of one of his windows, swathed in thick pajamas and what looks like three scarves of exceptional length.

"Me? Why hasn't this task been given to a Night Class stude-" she's interrupted by a few knocks on the door, and it is opened before Cross can call for it to do so. The girl that walks in is dressed in the uniform of the Night Class, with grayish-purple hair and eyes. Her hair is long and straight, with a fringe just above her eyebrows, just beneath her chin and then again just below her shoulders, and a small bun on the right side of her head. She's incredibly pale and even slightly shorter than Yuuki, looking very much like a doll.

"This is Kurenai Maria," Cross explains to Yuuki, "she's been living in an isolated mountain villa this entire time, despite having signed up at the beginning of the school year. Kurenai-san, this is my daughter, Yuuki."

"Nice to meet you," Yuuki greets warily as a sharp floral scent and sterile environments fills the air around the girl, as well as new velvet.

"What a delicious looking person," Kurenai mumbles, lifting a hand in front of her mouth, her eyes sliding over Yuuki's exposed skin and causing a feeling of unease to rise in Yuuki. "Healthy, too…"

"Kurenai-san, that sort of talk is taboo here at the academy," Cross scolds, wagging a finger at the girl, who blinks in surprise.

"Ah! I'm sorry," she turns to give Yuuki a wide smile. "Nice to meet you, Yuuki-san." The smile is soft and bright, and Yuuki forces a smile onto her face as well, the smile looking remarkably natural due to her a bit of forcing smiles regardless of her feelings.

* * *

"This is the library, and it's closed at this time of night. The Night Class is meant to use the library in their own dorms, which have all the books from this library as well as books brought in by other Night Class students personally for communal use. The current classroom in use right now is also just down this hallway, and once we get there, I'll separate from you to do my duties."

From where she'd been lagging behind, Kurenai stops, drawing Yuuki's attention to focus more completely on her. Yuuki'd been keeping Kurenai in her peripheral vision, but had been unable to tell the girl to walk in front of her due to the nature of Yuuki's role as a tour guide.

"Is something wrong, Kurenai-san?"

"Yuuki-san," Yuuki contemplates telling the girl to not use her given name before the girl continues on, her face pinched and flushed. "I'm actually scared to be here… Can you believe that? A vampire who becomes ill so easily would probably be excluded from those in the Night Class," she says, before noticing Yuuki's bland expression and curling her hands to her chest, looking down at the ground. "See! You don't believe me!"

"Ah, sorry, I was just… Taken off guard. I'm sure you'll be fine, though, Kurenai-san. The president and vice president are in your class, and unlikely to be mean to you unnecessarily. And you can always come to the Chairman or myself if something happens," Yuuki tells her, watching the girl warily as she blinks, a little teary-eyed, before the girl takes several steps in her direction. Yuuki tries to dodge out of the way, but Kurenai lunges quickly, wrapping her arms around her neck and shoulders in a hug.

"Thank you…" There's a shift in her tone as Yuuki stands stiffly in her grasp, not quite wanting to just attack the naive girl for hugging her but feeling extremely uncomfortable about being in contact with her. _"I love someone like you,"_ she says, one hand brushing against the back of Yuuki's neck.

The scent of ice and sweetened rot brushes over Yuuki's senses, a phantom scent, and Yuuki jerks out of the girl's grasp. She giggles childishly at Yuuki before making her way into the classroom, leaving Yuuki in the hall, nauseous with the scent of something horrible clogging her senses.

* * *

Circling the school building on her patrol, Yuuki catches sight of Zero leaning up against a tree, drinking out of a dark metal flask, his eyes unfocused. As she approaches they focus on her, and she offers him a small, sincere smile. He lowers the flask, closing the lid and wiping his mouth and staring at her with something in his eyes she can't identify.

"Yuuki?"

"How has it been so far?" She asks, walking closer to the tree and leaning against it to take a break, yawning slightly. Zero stares at her for a moment longer before looking away.

"Quiet. There were a few girls north of here trying to scale the building, but I sent them back," he tells her.

"No Night Class students out and about?"

"Not that I saw," he shakes his head, and she sighs in relief.

"There's a new student in the Night Class. Her name is Kurenai Maria," Yuuki decides to explain. "Something about her is… Strange, so watch out for her, okay?" She tells him. He gives her a skeptical look, and there's a foot crunching against stone some feet away that calls for their attention. Looking over as a wind blows towards them, Yuuki frowns and pushes against the tree to stand straight, that phantom scent returning against the edges of her senses.

"Kurenai-san, why are you here?" Yuuki asks, sure that she'd told the vampire to stay inside the building until they were let out for the night, wondering if she way already going to cause problems. Yuuki takes a few steps forward as Kurenai takes a handful of her hair and presses it against her mouth and nose.

"I took my greeting too far… None of them like me, now," she murmurs, looking away before looking Zero in the eyes. Zero is silent as he walks forward, dropping a hand onto Yuuki's shoulder and moving her aside as he lifts a hand and pulls Bloody Rose out of his jacket. In the instant between Zero pulling the gun out of his jacket and Yuuki realizing it, Kurenai has run aside and ducked behind Yuuki, who instinctively throws her arms straight out.

"Zero-!" The gun goes off just above Yuuki's shoulder as Kurenai's hands grip onto the back of her uniform jacket, her head pressing against her shoulder blades, and Zero's gun points right at her throat. "What are you doing all of a sudden?" She demands, feeling off balanced and unsettled. Zero lifts a hand to press against his face, eyes going wide and face pinching in pain and confusion, and the gun lowers.

"That's not…" Zero shakes his head a little before narrowing his eyes at the girl over Yuuki's shoulders as the girl's hands land on her shoulders. "Who the hell are you?"

"How do you do… I'm Kurenai Maria," Kurenai greets in a timid tone. Yuuki steps forward and away from Kurenai, turning and standing next to Zero.

"Sorry about the scare, Kurenai-san. This is the other school guardian, Kiryuu Zero. He is not normally so trigger happy, but you-"

"Yes, I suppose loitering outside on my own wasn't the right thing to do, huh? I'm sorry…" Kurenai reaches out towards Yuuki, but Yuuki steps back and Zero's arm lifts to hold across her chest as though to help protect her, causing Kurenai to stop. "But… Thank you for protecting me… You're a 'good girl', and I really like you…" The girl coos, "the blood of girls like you is always especially delicious… I hope we can become friends."

The girl offers them another smile, and then she turns and walks away. Yuuki is left with the feeling that something terrible has occurred. She feels sort of like she should follow behind Kurenai, if only to make sure she actually goes back to class instead of continuing to wander around the grounds, but the thought of staying in her presence gives Yuuki a bad feeling.

* * *

"Eh? Dance?" Yuuki blinks at Yori a few times in confusion, the two of them plus Zero making their way across the Academy courtyard between school buildings, books clutched in their arms.

"You forgot about it?" Yori asks blandly, though with experience Yuuki can hear some amusement.

"Ah… I'm not really interesting in dancing with anybody at that sort of thing, so yeah, I forgot," she laughs a little awkwardly. "And, anyways, I'm more concerned about the finals than any dance. Don't you agree, Zero?" Yuuki looks over at the tall boy, who gives her a curious look and starts to answer before someone cuts him off, approaching from the back.

"The Traditional Cross Academy Dance Party, whose most important rule is that the class that does the poorest on the final exam before the party must help with the party's backstage preparation. I'm _worried_, Cross-san, for you, as you are always lowering my class' average score."

"Ah, Class President, what a cruel thing to say," Yori says as they all turn to see their class president standing behind them, glasses shining and an aura of fury practically visible around him.

"The Dance Party is a formal event, in which the Day Class and Night Class can attend together… If I lose an opportunity to dance with Ruka-san from the Night Class, I'll hate you forever, Cross-san," he growls lowly before walking off, leaving Yuuki feeling a little unbalanced and, inexplicably, as though a curse of doom was just laid upon her. Next to her, Zero jolts a little, and she turns her attention aside to look where his gaze is directed just as a loud, familiar voice yells out.

_"You can't go that way!"_

Ichijou Takuma and Kurenai Maria are running down one of the courtyard pathways, Kurenai in the lead, as Takuma continues to try and make the girl stop. "The Day Class is still in session, Maria! Oh man, this is going to be such a problem…"

"Don't be so dramatic! I just want to have a look at the cafeteria," Kurenai complains childishly, dodging away from Takuma's reaching hands. Yuuki frowns, as they're meant to be very much not here, and begins to make her way in that direction, but then Zero's hand wraps around her upper arm, pulling her to a stop. Looking back, she sees strained irritation and panic in his face as he stares into her eyes.

"Don't go near that student. Leave her alone, let Ichijou handle it," he asks her, voice almost a plead, which is incredibly unsettling. But she can't just leave the vampire to tromp around the school, and so turns to tell him such, when he suddenly drags her closer to him and slides her behind him, visibly wanting to draw Bloody Rose but is unable to do so due to their audience.

"Hello!" The unwelcome voice of Aidou chirps from where she'd just been standing. "This is the second time we've met during the day, isn't it, Yuuki-chan?" He says in a sickly sweet voice, his eyes meeting hers. The blue is cold, without any visible emotions, and a shiver crawls up her spine as she settles in place behind Zero. She doesn't like purposely hiding behind Zero, but in this case, she will do so. Aidou is incredibly unsettling and upsetting for her.

"Aidou-_senpai_, I want to talk to you," Zero calls. Aidou straightens up and his face smooths into a polite expression rather than a mocking, cheery grin, and he looks at Zero calmly.

"How convenient. I wanted to have a few words with you, too."

"Zero? Wai-" Zero talks over her protests as he begins to walk away with Aidou.

"Be careful with 'Kurenai Maria'," he tells her.

"Eh? It's me who should be telling you to be careful! Don't start a fight!" She yells at his back. He calls an agreement and, from next to her, Yori shifts, calling for her attention.

"I'm worried," Yori says softly.

"He'll be fine," she says, though something tells her that that's not what Yori means.

"No, I'm not worried about Zero… I'm worried about _you_," she tells Yuuki, turning to see the dark looks of the students from behind Yuuki, who look prepared to maul the girl. With a loud yelp, Yuuki promptly abandons her books to Yori and takes off at a run, the Day Class girls taking off similarly in pursuit, yelling questions at her back that she ignores. Realizing that she's coming up to the school building and unwilling to enter a chase in an enclosed space, she vaults against a wall, doing a quick wall run and grabbing a hold of a balcony railing, pulling herself up as the girls run beneath her, then laying down on said railing in exhaustion once she's pulled herself completely up.

"Eh? You were chased too, Yuuki-chan?" Yuuki looks up to find Takuma crouched down on the balcony as well, looking harried.

"Eh? Ichijou? Where's Kurenai-san?" She asks warily, looking around as though the girl will suddenly appear.

"Uh… She escaped when the Day Class girls swarmed me…" Takuma admits as Yuuki drops properly onto the balcony to sit across from him.

"She ran away? Uh-oh…"

"Yeah… But Kaname asked me to look after her, so I will have to go and find her soon… When Kaname asks, not just me, but anyone in the Night Class… would probably do anything he says," Ichijou's voice gets lower and lower, so low that Yuuki isn't actually sure how she heard or understood it, but then he looks up at her meaningfully. "There are countless abilities pureblood vampires can use, and one of them is to make other vampires who aren't also purebloods obey them… Not that Kaname uses such an ability, and so I do things like this for him," he sighs a little with a fond expression, and Yuuki feels a little off balance, not quite understanding where this long explanation came from but committing the information to memory nonetheless.

"Ichijou…" She trails off before huffing a little. "Come on, then. Lets go and find Kurenai-san, yes?" He blinks at her in surprise before smile a little with relief.

"Alright, Yuuki-chan."

* * *

Settling down on the floor at the coffee table with her study materials, Cross smiles at her as they wait for Zero to arrive back at home in the house. When he enters, Cross straightens up and gives him a happy beam.

"Good timing! Tutor Yuuki, would you? I have to go out tonight, as Exam Season patrols are my own personal duty," Cross explains to the silver haired boy. Yuuki would think of the explanation as useless, if she wasn't sure that Zero tended to tune Cross out often enough that he usually needs more explanations that Yuuki, herself. Zero gives Cross a bland look, and Cross visibly reels backwards.

"Eh… It's okay if you don't want to…"

"No, I'll do it, just give me a minute," he shrugs, discarding his jacket and wandering down the hall and likely making his way to his room to get his own personal study materials. When he returns with his pencil case and work books, he settles down to Yuuki's left as Cross makes his way to the door.

"I'll leave the house to you both, then. Zero, was there anything you needed from me?"

"No, It's alright."

"...Okay," Cross gives him a fond, soft smile and walks out, leaving the two teens behind, closing the door behind him with a quiet clock. There's silence as they both work through their problems, and Yuuki finds herself using her eraser several more times than Zero, making discontent noises under her breath the entire time as she glares darkly at her math work.

"You made a mistake on the same thing last time," Zero speaks up eventually, pointing it out on her page and resting his chin in his other palm.

"Eh? Oh, I didn't even see that," she furrows her brow, erasing that part and starting from the top. Zero is abnormally kind in how he points out each step that she skips or bypasses, and as she begins to work the next one out on her own, his head rocks aside very slightly. Yuuki looks up once she's finished the problem, feeling some pride, but pauses as she meets Zero's eyes. They're warmer than is explainable, and his lips are tilted just slightly into a smile.

"You got it right," he confirms for her after a quick glance. As she turns her attention back to her paper, his head rolls aside, his hand drifting down to his neck instead of his face, and Yuuki notices the movement out of the corner of her eye. A quick, quiet debate with herself leads to her speaking up quietly.

"Is your neck bothering you, Zero?"

"I… The place where I was bitten by that woman… It aches." He stares at the table, his gaze dark. "There has never been a night that I have forgotten about how that woman who played us brothers as fools, who created that sea of blood four years ago… And yet, the reason I was able to live on…" His face moves away from anger and into something closer to sadness, to remembrance, his gaze glazing over. He falls silent, and stares ahead blankly, and Yuuki leans forwards to touch the arm opposite her.

"Hey, don't drift away," she bids quietly, not really completely sure what to do but knowing that to just leave him sitting and staring blankly is wrong. He jolts slightly, and she frowns when that's all he does. _Maybe a warm drink will help?_ She stands and turns to make her way towards the kitchen, thinking idly on maybe making Zero a hot chocolate, but there's a clatter of the coffee table being knocked into, pens and pencils rolling across its surface.

One hand wraps around her own, and Zero is standing close behind her, his body curling inwards and downwards so that his forehead rests against her shoulder. He doesn't say anything for a minute, and Yuuki's brain stutters around several different trains of thought before he speaks, and she finds that her chest aches.

"Zero?" Yuuki questions as Zero's other arm wraps around her ribs and he remains there for a minute, quietly breathing. "H-"

"... Was you," he says suddenly, his hair tickling her neck and his nose pushing into her shoulder. She takes a second to go through what she remembers him saying, and feels herself pale somewhat. _The reason I was able to live on… Was you._ What was she supposed to say to a declaration like that!? "I…" Zero inhales deeply once before releasing her and stepping away. She turns immediately, stooping slightly to peer easier into his shadowed face, and he backs away further. "I'm going to the dorm tonight. Don't forget the stuff I taught you," he tells her, sweeping up his jacket and stalling momentarily at the door.

"Oh… Goodnight, then Zero?"

"Goodnight," and then he's gone, and Yuuki is left in the house by herself. She turns and pauses at the sight of Zero's blood tablet case left on the floor where he'd been sitting, and she frowns, bending to collect it. It rattles loudly, implying that it's nearly empty, and she walks across the room to her jacket to pull out the bottle she keeps in her pocket, opening it and then opening Zero's case, pouring some tablets inside before closing both. Tucking the bottle pack into her jacket, Yuuki jogs quickly to the door of the house, tablet case still in hand, and runs out. She's barefoot, but that's not going to stop her, and she doesn't plan on staying out for very long, anyways. She's just going to catch up to Zero, give him the case, and then go back home.

* * *

Jerking upright in bed, Yuuki breathes heavily as she stares straight ahead, feeling dizzy and off balanced. Her head is pounding, and she doesn't remember going to bed. Or coming to the dorm. Stumbling out of bed, she glances at Yori's alarm clock as she discovers her friend in bed and sees that the time is 5am.

Staggering her way to Yori's bed, recognizing dimly that she's wearing a nightgown she doesn't remember owning, her hair completely un-braided and silky smooth in a way she doesn't remember brushing it to be. Yuuki collapses half on top of her friend and shakes her quickly. Yori moans in protest but then opens her eyes after Yuuki hisses something slurred and unintelligible.

"Yuuki? Did you have a nightmare?"

"Yori, when did I get here?" She asks, instead of answering. "Did you see me when I came back?"

"Huh? No, I went to the bathroom at maybe 4 and when I came back you were in bed," Yori denies, shaking her head sleepily. Yuuki winces as the pain in her head jacks up another notch, and a sound like a whimper escapes her control, along with a few tears. "Yuuki?" Yori asks, more alert and concerned, sitting up somewhat.

"I can't remember anything since… 7 o'clock," Yuuki tells her after another glance at the clock, "and my head hurts _so badly. _I think I got hit in the head and then someone put me in bed to hide it."

"Do you want to go to the emergency nurse station?" Yori asks, concerned as she reaches her hands up to cup Yuuki's head in her hands. Yuuki allows her to do so, sagging slightly at Yori's cool palms, but shakes her head after a few seconds.

"I should go see the Headmaster, though. It might be important."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Yori asks as Yuuki pulls away and then stumbles over her own feet as she tries to move towards their shared closet.

"... If I go alone I'd probably end up getting hurt," Yuuki admits, once she's caught herself, her head throbbing in a steady rhythm along with the beat of her heart.

"Okay, let's get dressed a little, then," Yori nods, climbing out of bed and proceeding to help Yuuki into pajama pants and a jacket, already wearing her own pajama clothes which are suitable for going outside. Yuuki does a quick check of her side of the room and finds on anti-vampire weapon present, which is definitely not normal, but does see Zero's blood tablet case, which she tucks into her sports bra after a quick and painful round of thinking, not understanding why she has it but something telling her it's important. They both then tuck their feet into slippers and make their way through the dorm and then outside.

It's still dark, and it's incredibly quiet, and as they make their way towards the Cross home on campus, Yori doesn't say anything about it despite the fact that she hadn't known about the house. Yori allows Yuuki to lean against her shoulder as she pushes the door open, and when they enter the living room, Yuuki sees pens and notebooks stacked up on the coffee table, her jacket and weapons atop a living room chair.

Confusion warring with the overwhelming pain, Yuuki shakes her head after a second and she and Yori make their way down the hall and towards Cross' study at Yuuki's prompting.

The room is occupied by Cross when they arrive, and as the pain in her head lessens slightly and Yuuki regains access to all of her senses beyond sight and sound momentarily, she can smell that Kaname has been in it in the last few hours, at least, as well as herself, which she doesn't understand or remember, and that either she or Kaname had been close to fresh blood when they'd been in the room.

"Eh? Yuuki? Wakaba-chan?" Cross blinks at them in a confused manner, and Yuuki narrows her eyes at him slightly at his legitimate surprise and confusion, small bits and pieces settling into a picture she isn't liking in her head.

"Headmaster, something happened to Yuuki," Yori explains when Yuuki herself doesn't. "She can't remember anything from the night since 7 o'clock, and her head hurts. She told me she thinks she got hit in the head and lost her memories of the incident."

"What?" Cross yelps, standing from his chair and hurrying around his desk, moving towards Yuuki and catching her head in his hands, prodding at her skull gently and asking her is any spot in particular is tender.

"It _all_ hurts," she whines, and he gives her a worried look.

"Well, I don't know what happened, but it doesn't look like you were hit in the head. How about I go and get you some pain reliever, and you both stay here for tonight?" Cross offers. Yori accepts and Yuuki nods pitifully, draping herself over Yori's lap the instant she sits down on the loveseat in Cross' office as the man leaves to do as he said he would.

Yori huffs quietly under her breath and Yuuki can feel gentle fingers slipping through her hair soothingly as they wait for Cross to return, and despite the pain blooming in vivid colors across her closed eyes, Yuuki can feel herself getting sleepy. Cross returns with the medicine soon after, and herds them both to Yuuki's room, Yuuki dragging a unprotesting Yori into bed with her immediately and dropping herself overtop of her friend like a cat.

"I'll be back to wake you both when it's time for classes," Cross tells them from the doorway before flipping the light off and leaving the room, the door remaining cracked just the slightest bit to allow the soft light from the hallway to glow across Yuuki's carpet. Yori's arms wrap around her shoulders, and Yuuki presses her face against her friends warm neck as she drifts off to sleep.

* * *

Sitting for her exams is the last thing Yuuki wants to do right now, as she's sure that she'd studies but she can't _remember_ anything she might have learned during said study time. She tries her best anyway, and she's pretty sure that she's gotten at least 70% on the exam overall, but she isn't sure, because at least half of the exam time she's worrying about Zero, who is missing again.

Once they've turned in their papers, Yuuki turns in her seat to stare at the empty place behind her where Zero should be, her headache ramping up from it's low throb back into heavy pulsing once more. It's easier to ignore it now, as the pain has been constant for the last few hours. Someone is saying something, but she can't hear them with the all the blood rushing in her head until an elbow knocks gently into her side. Turning, she spots Yori looking at her, with the Class President just behind her looking absolutely furious.

"He's been calling you," Yori whispers just before the boy begins to speak.

"I've found out the results of the final exams for five subjects, and while you exceeded my expectations, _our class did the poorest! _If it wasn't for Kiryuu being missing, we would have been fine, but with him gone, you dragged us down! Because of you, our class is to do the backstage preparation!" The boy yowled, jabbing a finger in Yuuki's face before wailing, "It's your fault if I can't dance with Ruka-san!" Then running off.

As she and Yori make their way out of the building, Yuuki holding one of Yori's hands so she won't fall behind if the pain in her head distracts her, Yuuki tries once more to locate the source of the splitting pain.

The last thing she can remember is Zero leaving the house to go to the dorms, and… finding his blood tablet case. The same one she has in her pocket right now. After opening the door to follow him, her memory jumps straight to her waking up in her bed. Something had happened to her memories after she'd left the house, and that meant she'd either gotten into a fight and had been hit in the head hard enough to cause amnesia, which was unlikely, or someone had deliberately erased or suppressed her memories.

Which implied vampire.

With what clues she'd managed to glean, it had probably been Kaname to do it, based on the scents in Cross' office. Maybe he'd been surprised, last night, about her being awake at all, or about the pain caused by the missing memories. If it'd really been Kaname, then he's likely intended for her to sleep until she awoke for classes, and likely told Cross as much. Which also implied that Cross had been complicit in her losing her memories.

So either she'd come across something terrible and she was better off without the memories, or they were just keeping secrets from her.

She didn't like either thought.

A scent brushes over the senses then, familiar in a way she doesn't understand, as she doesn't remember smelling it, but that thought leading it to connect to her missing memories, and her head snaps around to find the source as wind brushes against her face. She jerks to a stop Yori coming to a stop as well to look at her with concern, and Yuuki locks eyes on Kurenai, her memories coming back in a flood, the feeling of something breaking apart, falling into pieces.

* * *

He can't have gotten far, right? _She moves along the path quickly but quietly, the case rattling slightly in her tight grasp but the sound mostly muffled. As she moves closer to the faculty building, she sees Zero entering, his jacket being worn properly now, and his steps sure but dragging very slightly. With furrowed brows, Yuuki picks up her pace, wanting to call out to Zero, but something telling her that to do so would be detrimental right now._

_S__he gets to the door just as it closes, and peels it open cautiously, listening to Zero's steps fade into the distance, sounding surer than they had looked just a few moments ago. It sounds like he's going to the theater area, which is not currently in use and should be locked off limits. Closing the door behind her as quietly as she can, she tiptoes her way down the stairs next, listening as Zero's steps echo in the otherwise silent building._

_There's a feeling of being watched that's unsettling her, but she figures that it's probably just an effect of the building being so clearly abandoned right now playing with her senses, but then also realizes that if it wasn't, she's in trouble,_ _because she'd_ forgotten to bring any weapons. _A pang of self-recrimination and irritation hits her, but there's no time to go and get anything, as Zero's steps are getting farther away still._

_Hurrying slightly, Yuuki carefully moderates her breathing to be as quiet as she can make it, and as she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she hears a gun cocking, loud in the silence, and then a female voice that is incredibly jarring to hear, and just somewhat unfamiliar mostly due to the tone and inflection of the words._

_"__… Able to feel "me". Because there's a "bond" between us. Right now, that is filling up the emptiness in your mind, and finally… you've come to kill me." Yuuki pauses and then creeps closer to the door, breath quiet and smooth, feet silent on the cold stone beneath her feet as a terrible feeling begins to call for her attention. "Judge me, who has made a mistake, Zero, if you can pull that trigger."_

_Peering in through the gap in the doors, Yuuki can see Zero holding a figure at feminine figure at gunpoint, Bloody Rose against their chest. She can't see their face, as it is blocked by Zero's shoulder and arm, but the brightly colored hair tells her it is Kurenai Maria._

_There's a click, metal against metal, and Yuuki's eyes survey the room at large uneasily as Kurenai speaks once more, her tone and inflection still much more smooth and mature than they had been before._

_"What are you so surprised at? Is it because you can't shoot?" Yuuki's eyes find a figure standing on one of the upper balconies, doing naught but watching, and her stomach drops. Zero's outnumbered, and she doesn't have any way to help him that won't just be her getting in the way._

"Don't touch me-"_ Zero's voice is angrily terrified, and Yuuki jolts._

_"Poor boy… I'll tell you the truth. You can't kill me, the "master" who has given you life as a vampire, when you have fallen so low to become a "servant"..." Kurenai coos in a low tone, her head coming into view alongside Zero's neck as she gets close to his tattoo. Her figure then jolts, and she is flung away, and she lands on the floor as Zero takes aim once more. The figure on the balcony shifts and there's a sound behind her, prompting Yuuki to turn._

_There's nothing there that she can see, and Yuuki is starting to feel like a cornered animal as she turns back to the door, internally debating on what she's supposed to do to help Zero, to help her pseudo-brother, with this monster who turned him into a vampire and killed his family._

_"__... The first one to not give up… Good boy. I'm so glad that I chose you," Kurenai says. "...No matter how I may look, you are so good, Zero, that you recognized me, even as I am now. Me, the one who took your life as a "human", an event which I have ever forgotten."_

_"That day, your face was wet with our blood, Hiou Shizuka, but I know you," Zero says coldly._

_"This body is not mine, so I don't want you to be so violent with me," Kurenai- or is it Hiou?- says as the figure above them on the balcony moves. From in the shadows, something silver glints and Yuuki squint to try and see them, but they move back quickly after dropping something long and dark._

_"Zero-!" Yuuki lunges forward to warn him, because that's a sword and Zero isn't going to be prepared against it, but as soon as she begins, she is stopped, a hand grabbing onto her head and covering her mouth as the scent of wilting flowers, ozone and old books, an arm wrapping around her ribs._

_Through the gap in the door, Yuuki sees Zero jolt and begin to look her way, likely catching sight of her just before she is pulled completely away, and then there's the scent of blood._

_"... I can never lose you," Kaname's voice says as Yuuki's strength begins to wane and her consciousness gets blurry around the edges. "But him? If he is to die here, then we will be fine without him. _We don't need him."

* * *

_Kaname erased my memories? Or suppressed them? Why would he do that? How do I_-she cuts off her own thoughts as Kurenai meets her eyes, and Yuuki can see Hiou staring at her through them, coldly amused and faintly interested. A shiver crawls up her spine, and before she can think better of it, Yuuki turns to Yori."Yori, you need to go," she tells her friend urgently. "I need to talk to H- Kurenai-san, and if you stay…" she can't continue without sounding completely mental, but thankfully Yori seems to get the gist, giving her a concerned look but nodding.

"Alright… I'll see you tomorrow, Yuuki," she says, collecting Yuuki's books from her without any prompting and turning to walk off, glancing back at Yuuki only once with a concerned expression before vanishing from sight around the side of the building. Yuuki inhales slowly, dropping Artemis into her hands as she turns back to Hiou, the rod extending as she approaches the vampire, who hasn't moved at all.

_So she was either waiting for me, or now she's interested._

"Kurenai-san, or Hiou-san?" Yuuki greets in a semi-polite tone as a little trickle of fear starts to bud up from her very human instincts, while the rest of her is angry at the sight of this woman, and worried for Zero. The fear is weak but understandable, and also completely ignored. Even if this is a pureblood vampire, she's possessing a vampire who is not, and she is very likely injured. There's no way she's at full power, and Yuuki could probably take her in a fight provided that person from the other day does not appear with that sword again, or steps in to fight her in the vampire's place.

The vampire smiles at her in a way that seems indulgent and patronizing rather than sweet, and says nothing.

"What have you done with Zero?" She asks after realizing that she will not get an explanation.

"... For now, he's fine," Hiou tells her after a considering pause. "But soon enough, he'll turn into a Level E vampire, and he will be gone from you forever…" Hiou narrows Kurenai's eyes thoughtfully before saying, "I know how to save Zero. How about we make a deal? In exchange for saving Zero, I want you to so something that only _Yuuki_ can do."


	19. Ninth Night

**Early update! Mostly because it's short honestly****. Thanks, everyone who reviewed!**** And speaking of reviews, does it annoy you when I answer them in my updates, or do you think I should move the replies to the bottom of the chapters?**

**_To the potty-mouthed guest, she _is _angry. And traumatized, to a degree. But _there's not really anything she can do._ She's both younger, smaller, _and a human_. Like you said, they think they know what's best. Yuuki knows a losing battle when she sees one_****, _and even if she were to fight against such things like the mental manipulations and her lack of control, it's very likely that nothing would come of her efforts. Her only real choice is to go behind people's backs to preserve her choices and her memories, but you have to remember that she's up against people who have access to more information than her and who have a lot more life experience than her._**

**_To Minnidog118 and Valen Goncalvez, thanks for the positive words!_**

**It's summer! Updates might start becoming a little late, but I'll do my best to keep them to once a week at least. This chapter features me losing my patience and taking my chance, a look at the feelings and thoughts Yuuki doesn't acknowledge in the day time, and a cliff hanger that was too good to not include.**

* * *

As she lies in bed, for once completely alone, Yuuki can feel all the stress she's been ignoring beginning to pile up atop her sternum. Terrible thing after terrible thing has been happening, one after another, and she feels like her legs and supports are being dragged out from underneath her. First Kaname's support, his erasure of her memories proving him untrustworthy and someone who had decided they knew best. Then Cross' support, lost when he'd apparently been complicit in the erasure. There's still Zero, but he's missing and she's not completely sure if he's still alive or sane, right now, and Yori, who she can't tell anything about what's been happening to her.

Her head aches as she suppresses tears, staring at the ceiling of her room. Her chest feels tight, and her eyes hurt. She lifts her hands to press her palms carefully against her forehead, eyes getting blurry with tears.

_"Yuuki-san… If you want to save Zero, would you grant my wish?" _Hiou's voice intrudes on her as she stares upwards and Yuuki's lip trembles, helpless anger, stress and fear pressurizing her insides, twisting everything together and causing a painful strain. Yuuki wants things to go back to how they were- how she had been able to climb into bed with Cross or Zero, or cling onto people, or feel comforted by Kaname, how she'd been able to trust all three of them unconditionally. It feels like she can't do any of that anymore, and those had been her main method of de-stressing and comforting.

She'd make her way to Yori to climb into bed with her, for some kind of comfort, but the dorms are so far away, and she doesn't want to go outside so late, tonight. Yuuki lowers her hands, and out of the corner of her eye, something moves. She rolls her head to look, and finds nothing but her mirror, which shouldn't be reflecting anything as it isn't pointed at her. Yuuki stares at the mirror for a time, but instead of going to investigate it, she turns her attention back to the ceiling, feeling useless and pained.

_"Give yourself to me, or give me Kuran Kaname's corpse."_

_What am I supposed to do?_

* * *

Her head feels a little fuzzy as she wanders around the dance hall, her classmates all around helping put up bolts of cloth to hang from the chandelier high above and attach to the walls and windows. The hall is beautiful and bright, everything shiny as her classmates mop and sweep to keep it that way all throughout preparations, but Yuuki feels like she's miles away.

She doesn't trust Hiou or Kurenai at all, and the deal itself is very suspicious, but she's thinking that she doesn't have much of a choice. A roll of tape rolls into her foot, startling her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry! Can you get that for me?" A nearby classmate, high up on a ladder, calls. Bending, Yuuki sweeps it up and makes her way over, not wanting to throw it and risk the girl overbalancing and sending herself toppling down if she failed to catch it.

"Here." She extends the tape upwards, and the girl's thanks is interrupted by the hall's doors being violently thrown open. Yuuki jerks around at the sound and the call of her name, the voice breathless and strained.

"Yuuki." It's Zero, his eyes glowing red and blood staining the left side of his torso. "That new girl. She came here, didn't she?" Yuuki jolts as Zero suddenly turns away and makes his way to one of the side rooms in the hall, the students around whispering about how there must have been a fight.

She's hoping nobody noticed the glowing eyes bit of Zero's appearance as she hurries after him. He throws open a door to a room, looking inside.

"Not here." Yuuki pushes him into the room as he breathes heavily, and closes the door behind her after a quick look around. As she leans against the wood, she can hear the students still talking amongst themselves on the other side as she looks at Zero with concern. "You… weren't you there last night?"

"I was," she nods and digs out his tablets from her pocket, throwing them to him. He snatches them out of the air and after a quick look at them, opens the box and dumps the entire contents into his mouth with no hesitation, the livid glow of his eyes dimming only slightly as he crunches on them loudly. "Zero, where have you been? You're hurt- Kurenai did that, didn't she? Or is she Hiou?"

_"Don't-!"_ Zero cuts off his yell as he tries to push her aside to leave once more, and stops. "I'm _fine_. I just need to find her and-"

"You don't _look_ fine," she protests, reaching out to push aside his jacket, revealing his shirt torn and bloody, a large slash present from shoulder to hip. His heavy breathing continues, and his eyes become brighter once more, drawing an unwelcome thought to the forefront of her mind.

Staring at him as he allows her to bully him backwards, Yuuki wants to offer Zero her blood, but she also really doesn't want to do any such thing. In her head, it's as though a list is forming; reasons to offer him her blood, and reasons not to do so. Zero's hurt badly, and he's seeking out a powerful enemy, and would need the boost of fresh, legitimate blood. But… it would hurt the both of them, physically and emotionally, and if he drank as much as she thinks he might, then she'd likely be unsteady and nauseous from blood loss until tomorrow night at _least_. Besides that, if Kaname were to find out that Zero'd drank her blood again, he just might kill him. She can't trust that Kaname will keep Zero alive for her sake, anymore, after last night… Probably can't trust him at all, anymore.

The thought hurts.

Zero is in control of himself right now, and she's proud of him for it, but she's also leery of just letting Zero out of this room and amongst the Day Class students when his control is so visibly straining. And… She _trusts_ Zero. He's her brother now, for all intents and purposes, despite that she never says as much aloud.

"Zero... " She trails off, staring at his face as his eyes continue to bore into her own. "I... " She extends her arm in his direction, her head lowering on her shoulders as she hunches down slightly. "Here, drink some of my blood. You're hurt, and your control is fraying."

Zero stares at her silently for a second before taking ahold of her wrist carefully. She tenses slightly, preparing herself for the pain, but then Zero drags her towards himself, bending and walking her backwards towards the wall, his mouth landing on her neck momentarily. A quick pierce of panic shoots up through her and her senses ratchet upwards, making her hypersensitive as he licks her neck and then there's pain as he sinks his fangs into her neck.

From where her wrist is pinned against the wall, Zero's grip tightens around the limb, and Zero's other hand covers her mouth as she instinctively cries out in pain. She can feel her blood being pulled away, and she can hear him swallowing.

Her vision darkens and gets blurry as Zero continues to drink, and it seems like forever before he pulls away from her, his mouth dripping with her blood. He releases her then, pulling away and dragging the back of his hand over his mouth. Yuuki sways dizzily, and Zero, catching sight of it, lunges forwards and catches her as his eyes dim and go back to their regular pale purple shade.

"Yuuki?" He asks with apparent concern, watching her face carefully as her eyelids flutter sporadically as she tries to make them stay open, feeling abruptly distant from everything.

"I… Gave you my wrist to chew on," she complains eventually. "_Why_ did you go for my neck?" She reaches a hand up to put pressure on the wound she can feel is still bleeding sluggishly, and frowns at him in irritation.

"...Sorry," Zero offers as he helps her stand up properly and unravels his tie completely, reaching out and using it to press against her wound. As she takes a few steps to test her balance, she finds that she no longer has any, one leg crumpling up beneath her. Zero catches her again and sweeps her into a princess carry, and Yuuki uses her new vantage point to wipe the blood off of his face. He gives her a look and she shows him the blood now collected on her sleeve, and his eyes narrow slightly, though not with anger.

"Are you okay now?" She asks as he starts to make his way to the door of the room.

"...Yeah," he tells her before leaving. The entire dance hall falls silent when they come into view, and Yuuki can feel eyes on them as she carefully curls her hands and her body around so they won't see the blood, her body covering up the visibly healing wound in Zero's side. They walk through without saying anything to anyone, and Yuuki silently acknowledges that Yori is going to be interrogating her at some point, if only to make sure she's alright.

* * *

"Kurenai-san came to me about a deal," she tells Zero softly, wincing as he presses a little too hard with a gauze pad on her wound at her words. Zero and she are in the Headmaster's private bathroom in the faculty building, utilizing its first-aid kit. Somewhere in the back of her mind, easily ignored but present nonetheless, the familiar plea of _"I'm hungry"_ is playing on repeat. His eyes flash up to meet hers, flaring red with his surge of emotions. Maybe he sees them reflected in her eyes, because he closes them quickly, taking a second to calm down before he speaks.

_"What."_

"She told me that she knows how to save you from becoming a Level E, and she offered me a deal," Yuuki elaborates, feeling a little bit of tension and weight leave her as she finally begins to get this off of her chest. "She gave me two options. Kill Kaname, or offer myself to her."

"So we're killing Kuran, right?" Zero asks immediately, staring her in the face an stopping his hands all together.

"You know just as well as I do that I'm not going to be able to kill Kaname. And neither are you." She tells him, feeling tired and still woozy, the words escaping her without her truly dwelling on them.

"You're not going to _give yourself to her!"_

"I want to save you," she says, voice quiet and eyes averted. Out of the corner of her eye, something happens with the mirror above the sink, but she ignores it.

"Find a different way!"

"How? Should I ask Kaname? He tried to erase my memories of last night," she snaps, angry at his tone and some part of her snarling _"ungrateful",_ "And Cross _let him!_ I don't think they're going to tell me _anything_." She snarls the last part, feeling irrationally angry, and then stops, inhaling slowly and trying to get herself under control as they little voice in her head begins to hiss in an animalistic way that is really _not helping her cool right now._ Zero stares at her with something like shock, his eyes wide, and in his lavender eyes, Yuuki can see a flash of red.

Something tells her that the red did not come from his eyes when Zero's jaw loosens noticeably, his eyes flickering between each of her own.

"Yuuki?" Zero questions in a blank tone of voice.

"... What?"

"Has Kuran ever bitten you."

"W- No?" She yelps, jerking slightly. Her balance sways unsteadily, and Zero's hands lash out to catch her by her upper arms, preventing her from toppling down.

"Yuuki, this is important. _Has he?"_ Zero persists.

"He hasn't ever bitten me, as far as I know," she says quickly. "The only person who's ever bitten me is _you_. What is it?"

"Your eyes just glowed red. Have you been thirsty, thought to attack anyone?"

"No!" Yuuki can feel something cold settling in her stomach, several thoughts and ideas flowing upwards from where she'd stowed them. That _"hungry"_ mantra in the back of her head gets louder and more insistent, and with a wince, Yuuki lifts both of her hands up to press her fingertips against her temples gently.

"Yuu-"

"I look _just_ like Kaname. I can always smell blood, even at a distance. I'm stronger and faster than is humanly normal. Artemis and Bloody Rose's reactions to me. Kaname's attitude to me. My memories must have been erased when I was a child," she murmurs under her breath, stacking things together.

"Your memories?" A distant part of her reminds that she'd never actually told Zero how she'd come to be with Cross.

"When I was maybe five or so, I woke up in the middle of nowhere in a blizzard. I was alone, and I couldn't remember anything. I think that's when my memories had been erased, or sealed away. I don't know. I was attacked by a Level E while I was out there, and Kaname saved me by killing the vampire, and then brought me to Cross," Yuuki says, her voice getting progressively quieter as her emotions begin to drain away behind the shock of her vague thoughts being verified, before she looks up at Zero, who is watching her with something like shock in his eyes, as well.

"Yuuki-"

"I think I'm a pureblood vampire," she blurts. "Related to Kaname. A sister or a cousin, maybe. I don't know how, but-" her head aches with a sharp pain and she chokes off her words, pressing her palms to her temples instead. "I was a vampire when I was a kid, and there was probably some sort of attack or accident that had me stranded in the middle of nowhere," she begins, trying to understand this. "Kaname came to get me and saved me from that vampire, and I was a human, then. I'm human, now, I think, but whatever turned me into a human is wearing off, and I'm becoming more like a vampire, again."

Zero stares at her silently for a time before sighing, slumping slightly in place before kneeling on the ground in front of her, resting an elbow on a knee and using his hand to cradle his chin in his palm, watching her for a moment before speaking.

"So we're both becoming beasts," he comments. Yuuki jolts again slightly, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Wh- don't you hate me? That I'm not human?"

"That would be hypocritical of me, don't you think?" He lifts an eyebrow at her, and she has a brief flash back to punching him in the head numerous times when they were younger about such a thing. "You're Yuuki. You might as well be turning, rather than being a vampire from the start." He tells her. Yuuki can feel her eyes watering as a pressure she hadn't known was there disappears from her. Her balance and strength leaves her completely, and she collapses forwards into Zero, eyes fluttering closed.

Zero swears and almost loses his balance as he scrambles to catch her in time. Her entire body remains limp as he carefully collects her into a sort of princess carry. Instead of walking to their house or the dorms, Zero walks to one of the guest rooms and tries to deposit her on one of the beds.

She does not release him, and after a few minutes of trying (and failing) to get her to release him, he groans and settles on top of the blankets of the bed with her. She curls close to his side, letting herself drift off to sleep.

She dreams of an eerily familiar forest, a cracked glass casket, a deal and a death.

* * *

Standing in her dorm room with Yori, Yuuki stares at her reflection once she's put on the dress that Kaname'd sent her. Finding that he'd sent her a dress at all had been an unwelcome surprise, as she'd intended to go to the dance in her uniform because that was easier and she was comfortable wearing that. The dress is lovely, and it's high quality. The small kitten heel shoes are also nice, if not something she's comfortable in wearing. But…

"Yori, tell me that you see it, too," she calls quietly to her friend, who had been sitting on a bed to the side, waiting up for her. Yori is already in her dress with her hair done, her shoes off to one side for the moment. Yori lifts from the bed and takes a few steps forward, looking at Yuuki's reflection before looking at her physical form and inclining her head slightly.

"Yeah…" Yori agrees. "The dress and heels are nice, but it makes you look like a kid." Her words and tone are blunt, and while Yuuki is sure that they're not intended to hurt her or seem rude, there's still a sting in her chest.

"Do you think it was purposeful?" She asks, fingering the soft, dusty pink material, feeling torn. She doesn't think that Kaname's intention had been to make her feel like a child, but she does, and the niggling doubt remains. When she looks at her hair, a few imagined scenarios reveal to her that no matter what she does with her hair, she is unlikely to alter the dress' effect on her.

It has a box collar, and a high low skirt, the lowest point reaching her ankles and the highest ending just above her knees. The sleeves are long, going all the way to her finger tips, and are ruffled at both the shoulders and the ends, tight over her arms, themselves. At the small of her back, there's a large bow, the ends trailing down to the ends of the dress. Included in the box was a corsage choker that held a rose in it which was a similar color of her dress.

To wear the dress would be to accept whatever Kaname had intended to convey with sending it. But to not wear it would be to cut herself off from Kaname in a significant way, and probably hurt him. As Yori steps away from the mirror to go and put on her shoes, not answering her, Yuuki meets her eyes in the mirror.

A flash of red meets her eyes through the reflection.

* * *

**\- OMAKES -**

**In response to this very short update, I bring you a few omakes!**

* * *

**" BLACK WIDOW MOVES "**

She'd had a dream, and it had been amazing. When she'd woken up, the only bits of it that had stuck with her had been visions of a red haired woman fighting with dozens of men at once, pulling off grappling moves and being an incredible fighter. Yuuki had been too excited to go back to sleep despite it only being 5 in the morning, and had then dragged Zero outside to see if she could manage to pull off the moves. Not that she really explained that, but that had been an honest mistake.

And, well, she _almost_ managed... Sort of.

What ended up happening was Yuuki jumping onto Zero's shoulders, and then trying to rotate to throw him off balance and into the ground. She'd taken Zero to the ground, but that was because Zero had fainted the instant she'd managed to get on his shoulders. When Zero had fallen, she had wound up with his shoulder slamming into the dip between her stomach and thighs, crushing against her pelvis. She had shrieked, because that was _heavy and painful._

It had taken Zero five minutes to wake up, and just about that long for Yuuki to realize why he had fainted in the first place. When she had landed on his shoulders, she'd jumped for his front. She might be oblivious to her gender half the time, but Zero had just had it shoved into his face.

_Literally._

He had then refused to look at her or speak to her for the next week, and Yuuki decided that grappling really wasn't anything she'd do unless it was a last resort.

* * *

**" THE HAIRCUT "**

Yuuki's hair had gotten tangled up in her sleep one too many times. She'd only been keeping it long because last time she'd tried to cut it, Cross had discovered her just before she'd managed to make the first snip, and had in response burst into loud, messy tears.

So it was 2 in the morning, her hair had gotten tangled up in her fingers and had subsequently been _yanked_, and Yuuki is _done_.

It takes less than a minute to cut her hair at her chin into a bob cut, and it takes even less time to cut off the lopsided bits left remaining. Fluffing her fingers through her hair as she looks into the mirror, realizing that due to its new length, is seemed to have gotten wavyer due to its lesser weight, and seems to be darker, somehow.

Shrugging it off, she drops the maybe two and a half feet of hair into the trash and goes back to her room to sleep.

Stumbling into the kitchen, Yuuki yawns and rubs her eyes, walking to the refrigerator and pulling out a bottle of apple juice. There's a muffled thump behind her, and she turns blearily as she opens the bottle to see that Cross and Zero both had already been awake and in the kitchen. Cross had apparently stood and then collapsed backwards into his chair with weak knees, one hand covering his mouth.

"Yuuki?" Cross asks with a rather weak voice.

"Mhm?" She mumbles as she swallows her juice, getting down about half of it by the time she needs to stop for a break.

"You cut your hair?"

"Obviously," she answers, looking and feeling somewhat bemused. It's fairly obvious that she cut her hair.

"Why?" Zero finally pipes up, looking a little uneasy and surprised.

"It kept getting tangled up while I slept even when I put it into a braid. So I cut it all off last night."

Cross continued to look very shaken, while Zero nodded his head in acceptance and continued to eat his food, though he glanced at her a few times, probably due to the drastic change her haircut had made to her appearance. She could understand that, she'd scared herself when she stopped in the bathroom this morning before she remembered. As they made their way to assist in the switch over, Zero finally stopped glancing at her other than to give her deadpan looks as Yuuki clung to his arm and was dragged along. Her short hair now ticked at her jaw and neck occasionally, which was a sensation that brought about a sense of unfamiliar familiarity, and she shook her head often to get it off of her face and out of her mouth.

When Kaname had seen her, his face had been _horrified_. Yuuki wanted to laugh about as much as she wanted to be annoyed.


	20. Tenth Night

**I just realized that the way I've been writing Kaname or the other Night Class students might be considered bashing? But I'm not doing it intentionally if it seems that way (mostly)! This chapter _fought me the entire way_. At least half of it was canon!Yuuki getting in the way and being dramatic! I took so long because I kept getting irritated and taking breaks, but I hope I can be excused for my lateness by the length of this chapter? It took thirty pages of my notebook but seems somehow shorter here... **

**It almost ended on a cliff hanger several times because I got so frustrated, and the ending is plausible, I think, but I dislike it. When you read it I'm sure you'll find why and understand why the next update might take a little longer than usual.**

**I added and updated bio at the end of this chapter! Seems like an appropriate time for it, and I just finished it, so why not? My next update is going to be an alternative Tenth Night, because I'm not feeling this chapter at all, and based on reader reactions I'll decide which to make official.**

**Thanks, everyone, for the favs, follows and especially the reviews! Those've been lessening in number but some of you still reviewed! Thanks doubly for that! They make me really excited, happy and motivated.**

_**Vivi Neferatari, no, she'd had her canon hairstyle. That's a funny thought, though!**_

_**To the guest who liked the omake, I'm glad you did so!**_

_**Minnidog118, moonlightstriking, I can explain Zero! You seem to like how I've altered him from canon!Zero, and I'm glad, but I want to explain it, because I'm happy about how I've rationalized his development.**_

_**Canon!Yuuki ignores Zero's personal choices, is repeatedly helpless, "girly" and childish, and has an obvious crush in Kaname. Her personality frequently puts her at odds with Zero and her obliviousness often drops her into dangerous, compromising situations. She also seesaws between relationship extremes with both Zero and Kaname in really obvious ways.**_

_**In my story, she's more mature, respectful, observant and she has vastly different relationship dynamics. In canon, one of Zero's "noted traits" is kindness, which I've capitalized on. He hasn't had to hide things from Yuuki for her own good, she isn't obviously infatuated with Kaname and she's closer to him platonically without any complications, so he's less aggressively isolated and he clings to obsessive hatred much less than in canon.**_

_**Leia, I see your review! I had to moderate it, apparently. But, anyway. I can't **_**disagree _with you about Kaname, but I _can _say that it's not done maliciously. At least when directed towards Yuuki, but you're not really wrong about how he's acting. I personally think that it's probably a mix of him being socially isolated both as a Legitimate Kuran Kid and when he was Ancestor!Kaname, but he does sort of treat her more like a pet than an equal._**

**_I can neither confirm nor deny Yuuki's plans in detail, and I'm glad you enjoyed the omake! I'm about 70% sure you inspired it._**

* * *

The Dance Hall is echoing with violin music, Day Class and Night Class students visibly present. The boys all seem to be wearing their school uniforms, and the Day Class girls all seem to be wearing dresses ending at or above their knees. The Night Class girls all wearing fancier, more mature, clingier dresses, and among the students, Yuuki can see the clear divide. There's some mingling as Day Class students work up the courage to ask Night Class students to dance, and Yuuki circles the edge of the room, looking for Zero, Cross or Kaname. Yori had split off from her upon entering the hall to go and work backstage as their class was meant to do, and she would have gone to help if she wasn't meant to be wandering as a guard.

As she turns her head, she can feel Artemis pressing tightly into her skull from where she'd tucked it into the choker around her neck that is conveniently covering her neck wound bandages from the other night. Hiding the rod there isn't very comfortable or subtle, as if she hangs her head, the end might push into sight through the thick curtain of her hair, which she'd left down tonight, though with the hair framing either side of her face pulled back, but it's the only place she could hide it reasonably. When she'd tried to holster it on her leg, it had been too distracting and unfamiliar so it had bothered her balance and stride, as she'd not worn it on her leg in a _long time_. Attached to her lower left sleeve is the armband marking her as a guardian, which clashes, but is necessary to show that she has an official duty to the dance and is not just slacking in her class duties.

She'd almost hidden the gun in the bow of her dress, but if she were to dance with anyone, that risked the chance of them discovering the weapon.

As she makes her way to the very back, she finally comes across Zero and Cross, both of them together. Cross is dressed rather formally, if a bit old fashioned, his hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. Zero is wearing his uniform, which is standard, and they look very different to each other, as Zero's uniform jacket has the top few buttons undone and the tie is skewed as it normally is.

"Ah, Zero! There you are," Yuuki blinks in relief, approaching them as quickly as she can with the heels she's wearing. They're not very high, but the heels are narrow and this is the first time she's ever worn such shoes. Zero looks at her with surprise and a little confusion when he catches sight of her. "I figured you'd be here before me."

"Wow!" Cross squeals, throwing his hands up to cup his face, his glasses shining brightly as he wiggles ecstatically in place. "Yuuki, you came all dressed up!" He then slides forward, throwing a hand towards her and placing the other against his chest. "Dance with your father later, my daughter!" Cross demands grandly, face flushed.

"Alright…" She agrees warily. "Later, though."

"Yaay!" He cheers and bolts away, towards the back exit of the dance hall. "Later, then!" He calls, waving enthusiastically before disappearing. Yuuki turns her attention back to Zero once he's out of sight, and upon catching sight of his expression, waits patiently for him to speak, looking over his attire once more and kind of wanting to fix his jacket, at least this once.

"When did you have the chance to go and get a dress?" He asks after a brief silence, looking her over once more. "And why that one, specifically?"

"I didn't pick this out, actually," she admits, looking down before looking back at him. "Kaname sent it to me."

"Kuran sent-" Zero scowls. "Why wear it?"

"There's no reason to not wear it," she tells him.

"The hell there_ isn't a reason to not wear it-"_

"Other than it making me uncomfortable about him sending me such a gift, there isn't." Her voice is low so as not to carry, and she's hoping that there hadn't been eavesdroppers hearing that, and thus hurries to end that line of conversation. "_Not_ wearing the dress wasn't an option, Zero. Come here," she beckons him closer, and while he looks reluctant, she approaches. She reaches up, pulling him so he stoops slightly, and she begins to fix his tie, straightening and tightening it before tucking his collar correctly down and doing up the buttons.

Zero's eyes are wide with surprise and confusion, and she huffs a she studies his appearance for a moment, looking over her work.

"It was going to make me angry," she explains as she reaches up to the choker around her neck and undoes part of it, releasing the rose from it's confines and tucking it into Zero's breast pocket, tapping it carefully in place and securing it with the tiny chain in the lapel that she's certain is present for that exact purpose. She pats his chest a final time and steps back with a smile. "All better!"

"How are you still smiling, tonight of all nights?" Zero drawls out eventually, giving her a level look.

"Well," she trails off, smile falling as she tries to understand it for herself, a distant part of her awareness that is set to monitoring her surroundings and her body telling her that Kaname is lurking somewhere nearby and had turned his attention in their direction just as it tells her that she is running out of time. "I'm hoping I might coax a smile out of others by smiling at them, honestly." She tells him before stepping back yet again. "I'm going to go and find Kaname, and thank him for the outfit."

"Yuuki," Zero's voice stops her in her tracks as she turns to make her way away from him. She looks over her shoulder, turning only slightly in his direction. She inclines her head slightly and he meets her eyes._ "Don't leave the party."_

She offers him a second smile, this one slightly regretful and guilty, and leaves without answering him.

* * *

Approaching the milling vampires, Yuuki makes sure to space her steps carefully so as not to trip or stumble. Among the intimidating beings, she can see Senri sitting down against the back wall like a child avoiding a party, and Kain meaning against a pillar near Souen and a few other Night Class students.

Briefly, she contemplates walking past them to the terrace she knows holds Kaname. But to do so would definitely draw attention, because not only is Kaname not actually visibly from inside the hall, but due to the fact that she's pretty sure he's out there alone, she's pretty sure the terrace is "invite only" right now, so at least one vampire would likely try and stop her, causing a scene.

"Kain," she calls for the orange haired boy's attention. He twitches slightly, looking up and, upon spotting her, inclines his head slightly, waiting. "Is Kaname-nii here tonight?"

"Yeah, he should be out on the terrace by himself about now," he tells her idly, looking over in said terrace's direction. Yuuki nods, thanking him for the answer, and makes her way in that direction. Due to her enhanced awareness, she notices several Night Class students discreetly making way for her, proving her theory in the terrace being "invite only" correct. If she'd gone straight to the terrace, she'd likely have been diverted.

Once outside, she finds Kaname leaning against the railings far to the left of the doors and makes her way in that direction, uneasy about being so isolated in his presence. It's not a welcome feeling, because now that she knows she's related to him, she should feel safer with him, shouldn't she? When she'd been younger, the idea that they might be related had been heartening.

But that isn't the case at all.

"Good evening, Yuuki," Kaname calls, pushing off of the railing. "I'm happy that you're wearing that dress," he smiles at her just slightly, the expression unnatural on his face, disingenuous.

"Ah, thank you for sending it to me. I had originally planned to come in my uniform, but this way I am dressed appropriately for the dance," she thanks with a small, polite bow. When she straightens back up, she catches the tail end of a dark, sour expression before it is cleared away.

"Is something wrong, Yuuki? You seem different," he says out of nowhere, startling her a little. _Has my act slipped?_ "I'm just kidding. You look very pretty in that dress, you know." He pushes away from the railing and approaches her.

"Than-"

"Would you dance with me?" He asks, already taking a hold of one of her hands and lacing the fingers with his. "In return for the dress." She doesn't get a chance to accept or refuse, as, with a serious expression, Kaname wraps an arm around her waist and directs her into a waltz position. Involuntarily, Yuuki feels her skin crawl.

They start to move into a waltz, as expected from the starting pose, and it quickly becomes obvious to Yuuki that Kaname isn't at all following the music that they can very clearly hear. In the midst of a turn, she catches sight of a watchful Zero in her peripheral vision and feels a wave of relief she has to hurriedly mask, and in the back of her mind, her timer ticks ever lower.

"Kaname-nii, why do you keep missing the beat?" She asks as they once again turn before they're meant to do so.

"Because I'm not listening to the music," he tells her, eyes drifting closed and head rolling slightly to the side on his shoulders. "Let's just… Dance slowly. Like we used to do."

The memory is blurry and indistinct, but Yuuki can remember standing on his shoes while he walked her through this very dance.

"... When will you stop treating me like a child?" She manages to ask after a moment of debate with herself, forcing them to go out of sync and stopping the dance.

"I haven't intended to do so," Kaname tells her in a placating tone. Her eyes lift to look at his face, finding a soft expression but inscrutable eyes looking down at her from his greater height.

"Are you sure about that? You send me this dress that makes me look like a child, and… and you tampered with my memories," his eyes widen slightly and in them she can see shock and wariness, but she doesn't allow him to speak, continuing, "making that decision for me, as though I'm a child whose stuck their nose in someone else's business-"

Kaname interrupts the torrent of words by dragging her into a tight hug, his body folding over hers.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to treat you like a child… I just want to protect you," he tells her in a low voice. If she was anyone else, the words might have warmed her, might have lessened any negative feelings she held for him in response to his actions. But she's not anyone else, and they've had a conversation like this before. The exact words of the argument are lost to her, but she remembers wanting to protect _herself_, to protect _him_, and the sting of realizing that he hadn't been able to trust her to be strong enough to do so.

She'd forgotten that argument in time, and now it's come back to hurt her. Because he still doesn't trust her to be able to protect and take care of herself, apparently. A lance of emotional pain and a distant, silent keening brings her back to the present despite the overlapping and unwelcome sound of Hio's words coming to haunt her.

_"Kill Kuran Kaname. He only lets his guard down around you, so it's something only you can do."_

She pushes out of Kaname's grasp and surreptitiously gets free of her heels, a second voice coming to attention as she turns her head just slightly to see Zero momentarily gone from where he'd been watching.

_"Time is up."_ She turns without another word and vaults off the side of the terrace, her dress fluttering up but the length keeping such a thing from hindering her too much in her landing, though that does not save it from minor staining. She does not hear Kaname calling for her or reacting in surprise, which is suspicious but she isn't able to dwell on it.

Running in the direction of the old, abandoned faculty building that had once served as the temporary Moon Dorms, Yuuki can't help but hope that Zero will be tailing her soon, and that when he arrives, it won't be to her dead body, or a body without her inhabiting it.

* * *

The old faculty building is... a lot creepier than she'd expected it to be. Without the lights on, and without the distant but present sounds of life, the temperature just as cold as she remembers it to be, it feels legitimately abandoned. As though it is the perfect setting for such an occasion. There's a gaping door she can't remember seeing before in the side of the stairwell, and Yuuki's toes feel like ice as she approaches it and begins to pad down the freezing stone steps into the basement.

_Oh_. She remembers now. She'd followed Zero down here before.

As she makes it half way down the steps, she hears the door above her close seemingly of it's own accord. It isn't a loud sound, but in the otherwise silence, the quiet click might as well have been a slam.

If it were any other situation, she would hurry down the stairs to just get it over with and preserve her toes as they begin to sting, but she doesn't particularly want to hurry this confrontation along. She can sense Zero approaching, though, perhaps a quarter of the way here, her blood a beacon to her vampire side's senses, so she reluctantly picks up speed as she makes her way downwards. She can't have Zero coming too soon, after all. It might just ruin the plan she has vaguely strung together in her head.

Reaching the bottom, Yuuki can see another set of doors standing wide open, dim light spilling into the otherwise darkness that she hadn't really noticed.

It's the theater area again. The familiarity isn't at all comforting.

She wants to hesitate, to catch her breath completely, to allow Zero to catch up so they can confront Hio together, so she won't have to face this unknown enemy alone. Instead, she reaches up to pull Artemis free, aware that having it sparking would attract attention of the negative kind. She studies the weapon silently before setting it silently down in the middle of the hallway for Zero to collect for her before going forward to enter the theatre.

It's just as gapingly empty as it's meant to be, off white sheets covering what seems to be portraits, boxes, furniture and old props the school had decided not to throw out. Up on the stage area there's a love seat, with Kurenai sitting primly atop it in a lovely deep purple dress, looking like a perfectly posed doll.

It's apparent that they're the only two in the room, with no sign of the accomplice from the other night that Yuuki can sense, though she remains wary as she approaches the awaiting vampire. Zero continues to get closer, though not quite at the halfway point yet.

"So you've decided, huh?" Kurenai asks in a flat tone, not seeming surprised in the least that Yuuki'd come empty handed and alone.

"You gave me a task you knew I couldn't complete, but I've decided that even despite that, I'm going to save Zero," Yuuki says firmly, determination forcibly curbed so that it will be the only thing to show in her eyes.

She doesn't want to expose her trump card prematurely, after all. Especially when she will have only one shot to use it safely, as she only has so much energy available as a human.

"Come here, Yuuki," Kurenai bids with a small, satisfied expression twisting onto her face. Yuuki quietly circles the front of the stage to the stairs, then approaches the vampire, who has a hand extended in a silent demand for her own.

Yuuki places her hand in Kurenai's, palm upwards to bare her wrist to the vampire, but once she has it in her grasp, she only turns the hand gently downwards, curling Yuuki's fingers until her pointer finger is all that remains extended. Kurenai jerks lightly on her hand, and Yuuki follows the silent order obediently, dropping to her knees as Kurenai licks her fingertip daintily and pointlessly.

The vampire's lashes flutter slightly before her head tilts and her eyes meet Yuuki's, which haven't strayed from Kurenai's face at all.

"Do you have something to say?" She inquires in a curious tone, tone deceptively light and eyes blank.

"No, nothing," Yuuki answers after a second, despite her knee jerk reaction to say that _Kurenai is not who I came for._ Kurenai's eyes narrow slightly on her suddenly otherwise blank face, and her grip turns painful, wrenching Yuuki's hand and wrist around so that Yuuki is forced to go even lower as she tries to keep her wrist unbroken.

_"I'm_ the one who gave Zero despair, and you-?" Kurenai's face twists into a sneer before she clears it away. "You grew up happily, didn't you? Your eyes that look straight into mine... They remind me of Zero-chan's when he was a child." She yanks on Yuuki's still twisted wrist and drags her up to slam against the back of the loveseat, Yuuki following the movement as well as she can so her wrist will not be sprained or shattered.

Kurenai's hands rest on her cheeks as she climbs over one of her legs, a knee landing between both of her own. Yuuki wrestles down her fight or flight instincts, knowing that Kurenai is not going to kill her. She's simply making a point, or simply having fun with Yuuki at said girl's expense, wasting time for a reason she has yet to be told.

"You've been protected so dearly... I'm envious," Kurenai says after a moment of studying her face, voice uncomfortably soft.

"... Envious?" Yuuki can't help but parrot back. "Of _me?"_

"You think purebloods are happy?" She coos, seemingly rhetorically, because she continues speaking very soon after, not pulling away as she speaks. "That's fine. We made a deal, so I'll tell you how to save Zero."

Somewhere backstage a door opens, and a suppressed presence enters her awareness. The scent of rotting flowers, old blood and freezing air enter her nose as slow, steady footsteps approach, their gait wide. Kurenai finally pulls away to rest her hands instead on Yuuki's shoulders, settling where she'd been straddling Yuuki's leg to instead sit on it.

"Ichiru, those boys withdrew obediently?" Kurenai asks, looking to the side. Yuuki can't help her twitch at the name, an uncomfortable confusion rising up, flitting along her senses. Ichiru? Zero's brother Ichiru? Her eyes jerk in that direction, though the accomplice does not quite enter her field of vision just yet. The figure enters her vision soon enough, though, and despite the domino mask that covers his eyes and upper face, the boy's figure and silver hair are distinctive and familiar.

_But Zero said-_

"Yes, Shizuka-sama," he says as he enters her field of vision completely.

There's a woman in his arms, with long white hair and pale skin, clothes in an expensive looking kimono, seeming as though she's asleep despite all of Yuuki's senses telling her that she's dead.

"That's my true body," Kurenai reveals close to her ear before pushing away a little more to face Ichiru and her body, not actually getting up from Yuuki as Ichiru approaches. Once he is close enough, Kurenai grabs a hold of the nearest hand, the body inhaling slowly at the contact and opening its eyes, revealing vivid pink irises. "That boy... only has to drink my blood," they say in eerie unison before Kurenai collapses backwards into Yuuki's chest, head dropping on Yuuki's shoulder and nose digging into her neck. Shifting her shoulders slightly so Kurenai collapses instead on her lap, otherwise ignoring the sudden dead weight, Yuuki questions Hio,

"Your blood?"

"Yes. The blood of his Master will prevent Zero from falling to Level E and make him a true vampire," Hio says as Ichiru releases her to stand on her own. She then looks to the tall boy next to her. "Ichiru, take Maria to bed."

Ichiru approaches Yuuki and collects Kurenai's body silently, turning to leave immediately upon having her in his hold. Hio then takes a step forward, sitting down next to Yuuki on the love seat, their knees brushing together.

Yuuki becomes suddenly aware of Zero almost to the building above her and that she had not told Zero about the bare skeleton of her plan.

"We made a deal. Give poor me your blood... I'm being chased, so I need more strength. For that, I need your blood." Hio unties the choker from around her neck, taking the bandages with it, and Yuuki sees her study the bite mark with a little surprise.

"Do you understand what it means for my teeth to sink into you?" Hio asks, her palm flattening over Zero's bite mark on her neck. She doesn't wait for any sort of answer, pulling Yuuki closer to her and bending down closer to her throat, breath inexplicably icy over her skin.

Zero hits the bottom of the stairs, and over the increasingly loud beating of her heart, Yuuki can hear the faintest scrape of metal against stone, indicating that Zero's picked up Artemis as she'd hoped.

Hio's fangs brush against the sensitive skin if her throat, and Yuuki becomes acutely aware, as Zero appears in the doorway of the theatre, that she doesn't have a plan that would truly survive contact. Only a trump card she doesn't know how to play, a vague hope, a desperate kind of fear, and an awakened, restless beast of instinct seething in her subconscious, ready to do _something_ the moment Hio becomes distracted enough and she gets the chance.

* * *

Zero's face goes slack with something Yuuki's pretty sure is terror, and Hio pulls away from her neck without drawing any blood at all. Yuuki sees Artemis drop from limp fingers and then his face twists with fury and he lifts his hands, Bloody Rose held in a two-handed grip that she hasn't seen him use since he'd first received the weapon and was still not 100% sure of his aim's reliability.

In that exact instant, Yuuki registers that if Zero somehow manages to kill Hio or shoot her, she will be hurt and Hio could very likely turn to dust.

_Including the cure of her blood._

"Get away from Yuuki, Shizuka!" Zero snarls loudly.

Yuuki has less than a second to decide that the chance to save Zero from degradation is worth the terror of turning her back on a vampire, and she stands with arms thrown wide before Hio, her heart in her throat and her lungs somewhere close.

"Yuuki, get out of the way," Zero grinds out, anger apparent but worry clear to her beneath that.

"If you manage to kill her, then you can't be saved!"

"That woman, save me?" Zero scoffs.

"To stop yourself from becoming a Level E, you must drink her blood!" Yuuki insists. "To get her blood, I agreed to give her mine. I told you that. If I'm bitten, I'm sure it would be scary, but I'd be fine." She tries to give him a significant look, trying to remind him that she's not really human and wouldn't lose anything she won't _inevitably_ lose _anyway_ by being bitten by a pureblood.

Well she'd probably go mad with hunger for a little while unless she got blood right away, she and her vampire self had agreed on that point, but that wouldn't be forever and she'd be in no danger of falling to Level E.

Zero starts to walk closer, his eyes locked onto Hio and staying there as he speaks.

"Even if I really do need her blood, I can get it from her once she's on the brink of death," Zero says in a voice that's unsettlingly calm. "Can't I, Shizuka?"

Behind her, she hears Shizuka make a sound of amusement, and Yuuki feels the gaze of a predator that's taking a keen interest as Zero gets even closer, so she hurries forward while she has the chance. Zero snatches a hold of one hand and pulls her even further away from the vampire, keeping aim on Hio with a single hand, but Yuuki doesn't get far before Hio speaks.

_"Hello again."_ Something about her tone of voice has changed and Zero's movements grind to a halt, his face pinched with effort that Yuuki sees no sign of. This close to him, his furious terror is even more obvious to Yuuki.

In the back of her mind, the beast shifts.

Unnoticed by anyone, Yuuki's eyes flash livid scarlet for an instant.

"Are you happy to finally hear the voice of your Master?" Hio laughs as she stands, the sound slick and malicious. Yuuki can hear something metallic nearby, rolling, but she doesn't dare look over and draw Hio's attention to it. "Do you not feel like obeying me? It is because I have returned to my real body, that my voice has the_ "power" to "bind"."_

Zero's hand twitches just slightly around her own, and Yuuki flicks her eyes to jus face, finding his expression absolutely frozen.

"Ah... I have an idea," Hio says silkily, _"Hold Yuuki there, will you?"_ Zero's other hand, empty of Bloody Rose, grabs onto the wrist of her other hand instantly, and a terrible feeling blooms inside of her as she watches Zero's face go completely blank as Hio begins to speak. "You do understand, don't you? The commands given by me, your Master and Parent as a vampire, cannot be disobeyed. _Hold her tighter."_

Zero's grip twists and her arms are wrenched behind her back, wrists held at an angle that strains her elbows and pulls her shoulders back, resulting in her chest being pushed forward and her neck being bared, loose hair spilling forward.

"You don't have to make Zero restrain me," she says quickly, a sick feeling building the longer Zero is unable to control himself. "I wouldn't struggle while you drink my blood!"

"Stupid girl... This body has been starving for four years. Did you think that only your blood would be enough?" Hio asks Yuuki in a condescending tone, and that terrible feeling gets worse, twisting, _consuming..._

Hio grabs the back of Zero's head, tilting it back and pulling his tie and collar loose to expose his throat. The scent of blood finds its way into Yuuki's nose, and the expression on Zero's face looks as though he would be crying if he could do so right now. Yuuki can see blood drip down the side of Hio's chin.

"That's enough, _I'm right here!"_ Yuuki's voice is a snarl, and she closes her eyes to hide their no doubt glowing irises as she struggles against Zero's grasp. It's hard to not use her shot of vampiric power to escape and attack Hio, but she doesn't want to risk attacking whilst Zero is under Hio's control and her accomplice is still missing.

Hio pulls away from Zero, swiping the blood from her chin with her fingers and licking it up before turning her attention to Yuuki. Yuuki, eyes still closed, feels fingers trailing across her jaw and then into her hair at the back of her head. Maybe she says something, but Yuuki can't hear it, and she is suddenly released.

Her eyes pop open and she ducks and spins to the side, escaping Hio's grasp immediately. She ducks instinctively, swiping downwards to collect Artemis from where it'd rolled closer during the confrontation. A quick mental check told her that her vampiric self had used what little of an ability it could access to pull the weapon closer.

As if in response to such a thought, Artemis sparks violently but painlessly in her grasp as she extends it. There's a bladed edge on one end, as though Artemis is growing a blade or turning into a sword, but she dismisses it beyond its potential usefulness to focus on the confrontation in front of her.

Zero has a hand on Hio's throat.

"It is pointless, Zero," Hio says blandly as one of Zero's arms falls limply to his side. "_You should just stay still like a marionette for now."_ Yuuki moves closer, steps careful, Artemis held ready to strike the instant that she will be able to do so without catching Zero in the strike.

But unlike before, Zero's previously limp arm lifts and his head drops momentarily, then there's a soft jangle as Zero lifts his head, the chain of Bloody Rose in his teeth and his free hand wrapped around his gun.

"You cannot even put your strength in these fingers on my neck, can you?"

Zero releases the chain and his hand drops limply, as though his strength had failed him. But then Bloody Rose fires, the bullet going through his thigh just above his knee, and Yuuki sees Hio jerk slightly as Zero's fingers tighten around her throat.

_"Don't you take anything from me!"_ Zero shouts before lifting his weapon to fire several shots into the shocked Hio's chest, releasing her after the fifth shot, and the instant there's enough space to do so, Yuuki lashes out, coming in low. The new bladed edge of Artemis impacts with Hio's lower ribs, blood flying and coating it's edge. She flicks it's edge to get the blood off as Artemis sparks angrily at its presence, collapsing it and then re-extending it to ensure it's without blood. The blood is gone from it completely once it's extended, and Yuuki can see the blade at the end is extended even further, looking more like an old fashioned razor more than a sword or spear.

Hio begins to laugh from where she'd stumbled backwards, and Yuuki instinctively sinks down at the somewhat sincere sounding laughter. She throws an arm out as long strips of cloth unravel from her kimono and her hair comes loose. One of the strips flutters over the love seat behind her and when it comes away, the furniture is cut in half. A chill goes down Yuuki's spine.

"You want to kill me, don't you?" Hio asks in a curious tone before it morphs into amusement. "I will not die with this much." Hio smiles at Zero, blood staining her front and dripping from her mouth, eyes more red than pink and glowing brightly.

"_No... More.. From... Me..."_ Zero snarls with similarly red eyes before unleashing a hail of bullets at Hio. She throws an arm, lashing the cloth in her gasp in front of herself and stopping the approaching bullets in their tracks. Yuuki sinks into a lower stance, shifting one knee downwards and Artemis held across herself horizontally as she's prepared to lunge forward and distract Hio so Zero might land a crippling blow and save his life, but it feels as though her blood turns to ice when she overhears Zero's quiet promise.

"I'll finish _everything_."

There's a distant but loud snarl of denial and Yuuki feels her legs tense out of her control before she restrains it, mind working furiously as she struggles to understand Zero's emphasis and find a way for him to live beyond this fight without eventually devolving into a Level E. She hadn't brought anything to hold blood. Why hadn't she-?

"Let's put an end to this and be at ease, Shizuka.. I've lived only for this day," Zero says in a calm tone that _terrifies Yuuki._

"Zero," Yuuki calls, shifting her feet across the ground without actually lifting them and moving closer to her pseudo-brother. Zero actually pauses, which is heartening, but only barely.

"What is it, Yuuki?"

"When you said _everything_... When this fight is finished, what happens to you, Zero?" She asks carefully, fear of his answer present in her heart for all that she is doing her best to ignore it, a suspicion settling amidst it as her beast falls silent, waiting for Zero's answer as intently as she. Zero doesn't look at her, doesn't answer her.

"There's no need to think deeply about it, am I right, Zero?" Hio calls calmly over the small distance, apparently content to let this conversation play out. Yuuki returns her visual attention back to the pureblood, though she keeps her ears pricked for Zero's possible reply and to hear Hio's insidious words. "What has always been deep down in your heart is the desire to perish with me."

Hio's face softens and it's as beautiful as it is terrible. Yuuki's insides freeze and she can't help her attention from swinging to Zero, studying his cold expression and hoping that he will deny her words. That she's enough of a reason for him to live.

"Yeah, that might be so." Yuuki feels very suddenly simultaneously numb and overwhelmed. Any reaction she might have made, any emotion she might try to understand or utilize, is stomped down when her senses tell her of the arrival of the accomplice's return just as a sword impales through Zero's forearm, going straight through like an arrow, getting halfway through before stopping.

"Shizuka-sama... What are you doing, messing around? It's unnecessary," the male Yuuki abruptly remembers is Zero's _supposedly twin brother_ complains in a somehow disdainfully-respectful tone.

"You are uncalled for," Hio snaps in as genuinely angry a tone as Yuuki has heart from her.

"I understand, but I cannot be convinced with this difference in the ways we are treated," Ichiru says blandly. Yuuki doesn't really understand what he means, but her vampiric senses tell her that _Ichiru is human._

_Which doesn't make any sense._

"I thought you were already dead, Ichiru," Zero says as he pulls the sword from his arm with a tight expression, apparently not surprised.

"You remember me, huh, _dear brother?_" Ichiru's voice is mockingly flat, but when he removes the domino mask, Yuuki can see little resemblance between he and Zero, despite their identical faces. "How long are you going to play with Zero, Lady Shizuka? Could it be that you plan to leave the devil spawn as he is? Or... I can't let you die selfishly, it will cause trouble," he says, crossing the room to stand in front of Hio. Said woman makes an irritated sound before walking towards the exit.

"I still have something I should do. You don't have to worry, I don't plan on getting killed," she says in a voice closer to a sigh before vanishing from sight. Zero makes to chase after her, shouting her name, but is intercepted by Ichiru.

"It's horrible to ignore me like that, Zero. Don't you want to talk? It's been a long time, you know?" Yuuki collapses Artemis once more and shifts again.

"Zero?" She questions as Zero steps back from her brother. "Should I...?"

"You're going nowhere," Ichiru snaps at her as Zero twitches a hand to gesture her on. She inhales quickly before using her position to lunge herself forwards swiftly. She gets past Ichiru and there's a shout, but she hears the quick sound of metal against metal, and she is not pursued as she follows the trail of Hio Shizuka's blood.

It leads up the stairs and the footprints become even further defined the further the pureblood goes.

_It's Hio's blood... Would collecting it be worth anything?_ Yuuki contemplates a little frantically, worried that Hio will die before Zero can save himself, trying to think of a way to get her blood to Zero in time.

The trail of blood leads Yuuki to a half open door, and she can hear voices from inside. She twitches as she sees Aidou approaching the door, and her vampire abilities finally find use, flexing and cloaking her from all senses. A quick gauge tells her that she has about five minutes before the ability splutters to nothing.

She's only human, after all.

"Kuran's son..." Hio's voice is a low murmur, and as Yuuki approaches cautiously, she is somehow not surprised that Kaname's has found his way into this mess. "Why are you here?"

"This bedroom... It was the first that I occupied when I entered this school," Kaname's tone carries no hint of inflection to it.

"I see... as for me, there is nobody to disturb me."

"Yeah."

Stopping opposite of Aidou allows her to see into the room, and she sees Hio unwinding herself from her Kimono, and Kaname leaning against a window.

"Let me ask one more time... What brings you to this school?" Hio asks, and Kaname pushes from the window.

"To return a favor, and also because this is an appropriate place to get what I want." Kaname grabs a hold of Hio, then, in a close and intimate hold. His next words are so low she cannot hear them, even with her enhanced hearing.

She doesn't need to hear to know what happens next.

The scent of blood grows thicker in the air, and Kaname's hand erupts from Hio's chest, below her heart, but her chest nonetheless.

Aidou's face is a mix of horror and terror, and while Yuuki wants to feel similarly, this is not the first time she's seen Kaname do something similar. She's dreamt of that first meeting with Kaname, in both nightmares and dreams, enough that his brutality isn't a shock.

Though... Hio will undoubtedly die from this, and Yuuki has yet to have gotten any blood from her.

So, no. Yuuki feels no disgust or horror or even shock, but there is anger and fear present in her. For Zero, at Kaname.

"You don't seem surprised," she can hear Kaname note through the blood rushing in her ears.

"No... I have been thinking of taking your life as well, though by other means," Hio admits. "I was planning to make Yuuki an assassin."

"That was a good plan," Kaname says calmly before his voice drifts beneath her range of hearing once more. When Hio speaks, it's low with resignation but loud enough to hear.

"What a dirty trick... You presumed this would happen and were waiting for an opportunity, weren't you?"

"Yes," Kaname admits to her, resting a cheek on the woman's head as Yuuki's already precarious trust in him shatters and falls away. "It is foolish to try and outwit an unhurt pureblood, after all. Because if purebloods are equal, then a battle would just inflict harm and end up with a stalemate... But I still wanted that pure blood of yours. You needed my own, however, and that is why you tried to make use of Yuuki, am I right?"

"That girl's only value is to make her a "piece"," Hio says in a blandly mocking tone. "I cannot resist any longer. Only death awaits the loser of this game... If you let me live, I will kill that girl one day."

_"Shizuka-san... I will take your life, and I will use all of my power to protect Yuuki."_ Kaname's voice is low, animalistic and terrifying to Yuuki's human instincts. She feels an unwelcome souring feeling in her chest and stomach at Kaname's claim as her vampiric instincts inform her that she's running out of "stealth time".

Shizuka speaks, but it is very low and, as she does, Kaname jerks slightly, Shizuka falling suddenly limp.

The organ Kaname had yanked out of her back ruptures into messy, sickening chunks in Kaname's hand as he catches the falling vampire. Yuuki is almost sick before she gets ahold of herself. Kaname and Hio have a conversation, but Yuuki does not hear it, and Yuuki watches Aidou stumble backwards before turning and running away moments before Kaname exits the room, prompting Yuuki to slip inside, aware that she's running out of time. A moment later, she becomes visible and she approaches Hio quickly as the pureblood lies on the ground.

"Hio, when you die, your blood will all turn to dust, won't it?" Yuuki asks as she drops to the ground and sits on her knees next to the woman's head.

"Yes," she confirms serenely, pink eyes moving to meet Yuuki's own. They widen with sincere surprise upon seeing their current glow. "Are you-?"

"No," she denies with a head shake. "Right now, I'm "human". My vampire self is mostly sealed away."

"Ah, that spell..." Hio sighs in understanding, still studying Yuuki's face. "You're really a pureblood, aren't you?"

"Yes," Yuuki agrees. "Is there any way to preserve some of your blood? For Zero..." she trails off, caught in the woman's demeanor, hoping Hio's dying-good-will will give Yuuki a solution even as she notices the blood on the walls beginning to flake into grains of dust.

"Not beyond drinking my blood... But once it's been consumed, to save Zero, he would have to drink every drop of blood you could offer him," Hio admits to her, apparently deciding to humor her. Yuuki feels despair beginning to clog up her throat. Hio will be dead before Zero gets here, she's sure of that, and Yuuki isn't sure what drinking the woman's blood will do to her whilst she's so human, even if she is only so by a thread.

"Hio- Shizuka. Will you bite me whilst I drink some of your blood?" She offers quickly, impulsively, collecting one of Hio's wrists in her hands, her vampire self rising even more to the surface.

"You want me to...? Oh, I see. If I were to bite you, the seal would break." Hio smiles before breathing in a way similar to a sigh but just slightly less than that. "Alright, prolong my life so that I might do one more thing," Hio agrees placidly, her wrist lifting to grab her head and drag Yuuki down towards her neck and thus her face.

Hio's teeth sink into the column of Yuuki's throat, and Yuuki feels her vampire self dissolve just as her own teeth descend into the pureblood's own throat, opposite Kaname's bite marks.

There's a sense of falling, of drowning, of disappearing as she takes the first swallow in that same instant as she awakens, and Yuuki forces herself past those feelings. She can't linger in such sensations, as there are footsteps approaching quickly... Not that she could exactly move away in time to avoid being seen... She can tell that as long as her thirst takes up so much of her self control.

She feels Hio release her throat, but Yuuki does not do similarly, and Hio does not indicate that she should do so.

She's flung backwards after several swallows, and she hits the wall, dazed and foggy minded, instinct telling her to _lunge_ and _bite_ and _consume_, but her body is out of her control and her mind is buried beneath previously sealed memories and abilities. So Kaname is my brother. She struggles to suppress everything, and only manages to do so completely when she hears Zero's voice.

"What are you doing, Ichiru...?"

Yuuki blinks glowing ember eyes several times as she brings her attention to her surroundings, and she looks to see Ichiru standing with a fracturing Hio Shizuka in his arms, Zero standing in the doorway of the room.

"You killed her, Zero," Ichiru says in a shell shocked, devastated tone as Hio turns to dust in his arms with a sharp crack. "You, that girl and this academy."

"Girl-?" Zero's attention swings to her and he freezes. _"Yuuki?!"_ Ichiru jumps out of the window and Zero moves to Yuuki's side, ignoring the dust remains of Hio moving in the wind of Ichiru's exit.

Red eyes blink at Zero blankly as he kneels in front of her, speaking, not quite completely present yet, and over Zero's shoulder she sees the door open further and she sees Akatsuki step inside the room. _That_ snaps her to attention and she jerks upright, using Zero's shoulder as a brace and throwing one arm out towards the vampire.

"Cros-" his exclamation is cut short as Yuuki wrenches his consciousness and memory of seeing them from him by instinct alone. Then she droops over Zero's shoulder like a sack of potatoes, still hungering but not wanting to bite him at all, for now at least.

"I'm a vampire now. Shizuka's blood is my own. I'm a cure," she slurs out to Zero. "We need to go. Scene of the crime. Will tell you everything later."

* * *

**BIO AS OF THE TENTH NIGHT**

* * *

**Name**: Yuuki Cross (Kuran)

**Age**: 16

**Height**: 5'0", 152 cm

**Birthday**: December 24th

**Moral Alignment:** True Neutral

**Current Theme Quote:** "I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me." - Cheryl Strayed

**Likes:** the excitement and adrenaline of a fight, salty food, winning, physical affection, Zero, Yori, being strong, the color purple, protecting her precious people, knowing important information, being trusted

**Dislikes**: violence just for the sake of violence, bullies, being unnecessarily singled out, being alone for too long, being lied to by people she trusts/trusted, when her precious people are unhappy/hurt, not understanding something, spicy foods, Hio Shizuka, Yagari Toga, secrets being kept from her (especially when they are about her), the idea of Zero falling to Level E

**Character Flaws**: Sort of impulsive when people she cares about are threatened. Has a fear of abandonment/abandonment issues that makes her more permissive than she actually is. Romantic or intimate-romantic situations make her uncomfortable/anxious and that kind of subtext make her distrustful of the people involved. Usually feels emotions in a more dulled way. Frequently lies to herself about her mental/emotional state and pretends that "everything is alright", compartmentalizing everything and then refusing to acknowledge things until they're starting to overwhelm her.

**Past Self**: Devoured.

**Fact**: Yuuki's "vampire side" awakened inside of her when she was very small despite the seal, and gained a sort of sentience from eating the memories of her past self, despite actually being only instinct compressed into a single form. This "vampire side" dissolved when Yuuki became an actual vampire and the instincts had a proper outlet.

**Scent**: blooming crabapple tree, natural decay, blood, ozone


	21. Tenth Night · Alternate

**A majority of this chapter is the same as the other Tenth Night, (with some corrections that I'm not up to fixing in the other version because doing this on my phone is _infuriating_) but posting just the ending seemed like it'd be cheating. Tomorrow, I'll make a poll on my page for which chapter to make "canon", or if you can't see polls then you can feel free to pm me your decision (though if I see that's it please don't expect me to respond). Italics might be different between this version and the other, and I'm sorry for that, but italics won't transfer via copy and paste, and switching between the two chapters is unacceptably difficult. That said, I'm sorry about any typos! I kind of rushed through the bottom part of this chapter and I'm feeling sort of blah.**

**With this Tenth Night version, canon still stays on it's rails more, but Kaname will still be exposed soon enough. This way I'd also be more likely to be able to get the next chapter out sooner, as writing a vampire!Yuuki will be. Difficult to say the least.**

**Anyway, thanks for all the reviews! They've made me crazy happy! I'm going to respond to those of you that had more to their reviews than "thanks" or "nice chapter", as while I appreciate those, responding to all of you seems sort of pointless?**

_**Tenshi-Oujosama, you reviewed twice! Hi! Responding seems a little complicated, so I'll break it up by chapter, I guess?**_

_**(Chapter 19), You've got a point about her perspective does dictate a lot of how characters are portrayed. I've thought about doing an omake from another point of view, but I'm only able to relate to or write certain personalities and mindsets, if that makes any sense? I'll see what I can do about writing from a vampire's POV.**_

_**(Chapter 20), She was legitimately hidden from Kaname, who I doubt would report her as a suspect even if he knew she was there, and Akatsuki's memories were pulled out/sealed away and so he can't technically report either of them.**_

_**Vivi Neferatari, I will be doing my best to update on Mondays! The latest would be mid-week, to the best of my knowledge.**_**_ But I'm doing all typing from my phone, and I've got a summer job most weekdays now, so I don't have a huge amount of free time. As you can tell, I sometimes don't make it on time to post on Mondays. I really am doing my best, though._**

**_Kurochach, I'm not actually sure. I don't think it was ever explicitly stated in the manga at the very least, but it's been awhile since I read it just to read it. But your question brings to mind some ideas I hadn't considered, so thanks for asking doubly!_**

**_Aaaah, Leia, I shrieked! Thanks for your long and well thought out review! You're pretty on the money in most of your points, and I'm glad you like what I've been doing! I'm going to adress it slightly out of order to comment on some of the things you said. She and Akatsuki probably would make great friends, or allies at the very least, but now that she tampered with his head, probably not so much. The only reason she knew how to do that by the way was because it'd been done to her. I will see what I can do about an omake from a vampires perspective, but that might not be for a little while, as I'd have to read ahead and find where the flashback things would line up to canon events and then events in my version._**

**_She doesn't have PTSD from the Aidou confrontation, she isn't hiding it, exactly. Sorry if that seems unrealistic or takes away another layer to her that you or others were counting on. She's actually mostly forgotten it, except for that it happened, Aidou was the cause, and it wad because of him throwing a temper tantrum that would have gotten her killed or very injured very easily. I, personally, don't hold grudges or trauma very long unless I'm around reminders or the person constantly (a friend stabbed me once in a fit of anger and while I will never let her close again with a sharp object, I still call her my friend). I'm glad you loved my decision making on how things would go. That cure thing was a desperate gamble, where Yuuki decided that "If Zero lives, then it's okay if I die, though if I'm a vampire I maybe won't"._**

**_And yes, Yuuki has pretty much the devil's luck, I'm not going to deny it. Things could have gone _very _badly for her at any moment with Shizuka. There was almost getting shot, almost getting her wrist broken, and that's only bodily harm, and then this chapter ending, which is where her luck failed._**

**7/24 edit: I went through this chapter and edited the spelling and grammar mistakes that I could find with the little red indicators. Sorry about the tease about a new chapter, but I'll be posting the new one sometime this week or the next (the first week of August). Sorry about the delay!**

* * *

The Dance Hall is echoing with violin music, Day Class and Night Class students visibly present. The boys all seem to be wearing their school uniforms, and the Day Class girls all seem to be wearing dresses ending at or above their knees. The Night Class girls all wearing fancier, more mature, clingier dresses, and among the students, Yuuki can see the clear divide. There's some mingling as Day Class students work up the courage to ask Night Class students to dance, and Yuuki circles the edge of the room, looking for Zero, Cross or Kaname. Yori had split off from her upon entering the hall to go and work backstage as their class was meant to do, and she would have gone to help if she wasn't meant to be wandering as a guard.

As she turns her head, she can feel Artemis pressing tightly into her skull from where she'd tucked it into the choker around her neck that is conveniently covering her neck wound bandages from the other night. Hiding the rod there isn't very comfortable or subtle, as if she hangs her head, the end might push into sight through the thick curtain of her hair, which she'd left down tonight, though with the hair framing either side of her face pulled back, but it's the only place she could hide it reasonably. When she'd tried to holster it on her leg, it had been too distracting and unfamiliar so it had bothered her balance and stride, as she'd not worn it on her leg in a _long time_. Attached to her lower left sleeve is the armband marking her as a guardian, which clashes, but is necessary to show that she has an official duty to the dance and is not just slacking in her class duties.

She'd almost hidden the gun in the bow of her dress, but if she were to dance with anyone, that risked the chance of them discovering the weapon.

As she makes her way to the very back, she finally comes across Zero and Cross, both of them together. Cross is dressed rather formally, if a bit old fashioned, his hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. Zero is wearing his uniform, which is standard, and they look very different to each other, as Zero's uniform jacket has the top few buttons undone and the tie is skewed as it normally is.

"Ah, Zero! There you are," Yuuki blinks in relief, approaching them as quickly as she can with the heels she's wearing. They're not very high, but the heels are narrow and this is the first time she's ever worn such shoes. Zero looks at her with surprise and a little confusion when he catches sight of her. "I figured you'd be here before me."

"Wow!" Cross squeals, throwing his hands up to cup his face, his glasses shining brightly as he wiggles ecstatically in place. "Yuuki, you came all dressed up!" He then slides forward, throwing a hand towards her and placing the other against his chest. "Dance with your father later, my daughter!" Cross demands grandly, face flushed.

"Alright…" She agrees warily. "Later, though."

"Yaay!" He cheers and bolts away, towards the back exit of the dance hall. "Later, then!" He calls, waving enthusiastically before disappearing. Yuuki turns her attention back to Zero once he's out of sight, and upon catching sight of his expression, waits patiently for him to speak, looking over his attire once more and kind of wanting to fix his jacket, at least this once.

"When did you have the chance to go and get a dress?" He asks after a brief silence, looking her over once more. "And why that one, specifically?"

"I didn't pick this out, actually," she admits, looking down before looking back at him. "Kaname sent it to me."

"Kuran sent-" Zero scowls. "Why wear it?"

"There's no reason to not wear it," she tells him.

"The hell there_ isn't a reason to not wear it-"_

"Other than it making me uncomfortable about him sending me such a gift, there isn't." Her voice is low so as not to carry, and she's hoping that there hadn't been eavesdroppers hearing that, and thus hurries to end that line of conversation. "_Not_ wearing the dress wasn't an option, Zero. Come here," she beckons him closer, and while he looks reluctant, she approaches. She reaches up, pulling him so he stoops slightly, and she begins to fix his tie, straightening and tightening it before tucking his collar correctly down and doing up the buttons.

Zero's eyes are wide with surprise and confusion, and she huffs a she studies his appearance for a moment, looking over her work.

"It was going to make me angry," she explains as she reaches up to the choker around her neck and undoes part of it, releasing the rose from it's confines and tucking it into Zero's breast pocket, tapping it carefully in place and securing it with the tiny chain in the lapel that she's certain is present for that exact purpose. She pats his chest a final time and steps back with a smile. "All better!"

"How are you still smiling, tonight of all nights?" Zero drawls out eventually, giving her a level look.

"Well," she trails off, smile falling as she tries to understand it for herself, a distant part of her awareness that is set to monitoring her surroundings and her body telling her that Kaname is lurking somewhere nearby and had turned his attention in their direction just as it tells her that she is running out of time. "I'm hoping I might coax a smile out of others by smiling at them, honestly." She tells him before stepping back yet again. "I'm going to go and find Kaname, and thank him for the outfit."

"Yuuki," Zero's voice stops her in her tracks as she turns to make her way away from him. She looks over her shoulder, turning only slightly in his direction. She inclines her head slightly and he meets her eyes._ "Don't leave the party."_

She offers him a second smile, this one slightly regretful and guilty, and leaves without answering him.

* * *

Approaching the milling vampires, Yuuki makes sure to space her steps carefully so as not to trip or stumble. Among the intimidating beings, she can see Senri sitting down against the back wall like a child avoiding a party, and Kain meaning against a pillar near Souen and a few other Night Class students.

Briefly, she contemplates walking past them to the terrace she knows holds Kaname. But to do so would definitely draw attention, because not only is Kaname not actually visibly from inside the hall, but due to the fact that she's pretty sure he's out there alone, she's pretty sure the terrace is "invite only" right now, so at least one vampire would likely try and stop her, causing a scene.

"Kain," she calls for the orange haired boy's attention. He twitches slightly, looking up and, upon spotting her, inclines his head slightly, waiting. "Is Kaname-nii here tonight?"

"Yeah, he should be out on the terrace by himself about now," he tells her idly, looking over in said terrace's direction. Yuuki nods, thanking him for the answer, and makes her way in that direction. Due to her enhanced awareness, she notices several Night Class students discreetly making way for her, proving her theory in the terrace being "invite only" correct. If she'd gone straight to the terrace, she'd likely have been diverted.

Once outside, she finds Kaname leaning against the railings far to the left of the doors and makes her way in that direction, uneasy about being so isolated in his presence. It's not a welcome feeling, because now that she knows she's related to him, she should feel safer with him, shouldn't she? When she'd been younger, the idea that they might be related had been heartening.

But that isn't the case at all.

"Good evening, Yuuki," Kaname calls, pushing off of the railing. "I'm happy that you're wearing that dress," he smiles at her just slightly, the expression unnatural on his face, disingenuous.

"Ah, thank you for sending it to me. I had originally planned to come in my uniform, but this way I am dressed appropriately for the dance," she thanks with a small, polite bow. When she straightens back up, she catches the tail end of a dark, sour expression before it is cleared away.

"Is something wrong, Yuuki? You seem different," he says out of nowhere, startling her a little. _Has my act slipped?_ "I'm just kidding. You look very pretty in that dress, you know." He pushes away from the railing and approaches her.

"Than-"

"Would you dance with me?" He asks, already taking a hold of one of her hands and lacing the fingers with his. "In return for the dress." She doesn't get a chance to accept or refuse, as, with a serious expression, Kaname wraps an arm around her waist and directs her into a waltz position. Involuntarily, Yuuki feels her skin crawl.

They start to move into a waltz, as expected from the starting pose, and it quickly becomes obvious to Yuuki that Kaname isn't at all following the music that they can very clearly hear. In the midst of a turn, she catches sight of a watchful Zero in her peripheral vision and feels a wave of relief she has to hurriedly mask, and in the back of her mind, her timer ticks ever lower.

"Kaname-nii, why do you keep missing the beat?" She asks as they once again turn before they're meant to do so.

"Because I'm not listening to the music," he tells her, eyes drifting closed and head rolling slightly to the side on his shoulders. "Let's just… Dance slowly. Like we used to do."

The memory is blurry and indistinct, but Yuuki can remember standing on his shoes while he walked her through this very dance.

"... When will you stop treating me like a child?" She manages to ask after a moment of debate with herself, forcing them to go out of sync and stopping the dance.

"I haven't intended to do so," Kaname tells her in a placating tone. Her eyes lift to look at his face, finding a soft expression but inscrutable eyes looking down at her from his greater height.

"Are you sure about that? You send me this dress that makes me look like a child, and… and you tampered with my memories," his eyes widen slightly and in them she can see shock and wariness, but she doesn't allow him to speak, continuing, "making that decision for me, as though I'm a child whose stuck their nose in someone else's business-"

Kaname interrupts the torrent of words by dragging her into a tight hug, his body folding over hers.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to treat you like a child… I just want to protect you," he tells her in a low voice. If she was anyone else, the words might have warmed her, might have lessened any negative feelings she held for him in response to his actions. But she's not anyone else, and they've had a conversation like this before. The exact words of the argument are lost to her, but she remembers wanting to protect _herself_, to protect _him_, and the sting of realizing that he hadn't been able to trust her to be strong enough to do so.

She'd forgotten that argument in time, and now it's come back to hurt her. Because he still doesn't trust her to be able to protect and take care of herself, apparently. A lance of emotional pain and a distant, silent keening brings her back to the present despite the overlapping and unwelcome sound of Hio's words coming to haunt her.

_"Kill Kuran Kaname. He only lets his guard down around you, so it's something only you can do."_

She pushes out of Kaname's grasp and surreptitiously gets free of her heels, a second voice coming to attention as she turns her head just slightly to see Zero momentarily gone from where he'd been watching.

_"Time is up."_ She turns without another word and vaults off the side of the terrace, her dress fluttering up but the length keeping such a thing from hindering her too much in her landing, though that does not save it from minor staining. She does not hear Kaname calling for her or reacting in surprise, which is suspicious but she isn't able to dwell on it.

Running in the direction of the old, abandoned faculty building that had once served as the temporary Moon Dorms, Yuuki can't help but hope that Zero will be tailing her soon, and that when he arrives, it won't be to her dead body, or a body without her inhabiting it.

* * *

The old faculty building is... a lot creepier than she'd expected it to be. Without the lights on, and without the distant but present sounds of life, the temperature just as cold as she remembers it to be, it feels legitimately abandoned. As though it is the perfect setting for such an occasion. There's a gaping door she can't remember seeing before in the side of the stairwell, and Yuuki's toes feel like ice as she approaches it and begins to pad down the freezing stone steps into the basement.

_Oh_. She remembers now. She'd followed Zero down here before.

As she makes it half way down the steps, she hears the door above her close seemingly of it's own accord. It isn't a loud sound, but in the otherwise silence, the quiet click might as well have been a slam.

If it were any other situation, she would hurry down the stairs to just get it over with and preserve her toes as they begin to sting, but she doesn't particularly want to hurry this confrontation along. She can sense Zero approaching, though, perhaps a quarter of the way here, her blood a beacon to her vampire side's senses, so she reluctantly picks up speed as she makes her way downwards. She can't have Zero coming too soon, after all. It might just ruin the plan she has vaguely strung together in her head.

Reaching the bottom, Yuuki can see another set of doors standing wide open, dim light spilling into the otherwise darkness that she hadn't really noticed.

It's the theater area again. The familiarity isn't at all comforting.

She wants to hesitate, to catch her breath completely, to allow Zero to catch up so they can confront Hio together, so she won't have to face this unknown enemy alone. Instead, she reaches up to pull Artemis free, aware that having it sparking would attract attention of the negative kind. She studies the weapon silently before setting it silently down in the middle of the hallway for Zero to collect for her before going forward to enter the theatre.

It's just as gapingly empty as it's meant to be, off white sheets covering what seems to be portraits, boxes, furniture and old props the school had decided not to throw out. Up on the stage area there's a love seat, with Kurenai sitting primly atop it in a lovely deep purple dress, looking like a perfectly posed doll.

It's apparent that they're the only two in the room, with no sign of the accomplice from the other night that Yuuki can sense, though she remains wary as she approaches the awaiting vampire. Zero continues to get closer, though not quite at the halfway point yet.

"So you've decided, huh?" Kurenai asks in a flat tone, not seeming surprised in the least that Yuuki'd come empty handed and alone.

"You gave me a task you knew I couldn't complete, but I've decided that even despite that, I'm going to save Zero," Yuuki says firmly, determination forcibly curbed so that it will be the only thing to show in her eyes.

She doesn't want to expose her trump card prematurely, after all. Especially when she will have only one shot to use it safely, as she only has so much energy available as a human.

"Come here, Yuuki," Kurenai bids with a small, satisfied expression twisting onto her face. Yuuki quietly circles the front of the stage to the stairs, then approaches the vampire, who has a hand extended in a silent demand for her own.

Yuuki places her hand in Kurenai's, palm upwards to bare her wrist to the vampire, but once she has it in her grasp, she only turns the hand gently downwards, curling Yuuki's fingers until her pointer finger is all that remains extended. Kurenai jerks lightly on her hand, and Yuuki follows the silent order obediently, dropping to her knees as Kurenai licks her fingertip daintily and pointlessly.

The vampire's lashes flutter slightly before her head tilts and her eyes meet Yuuki's, which haven't strayed from Kurenai's face at all.

"Do you have something to say?" She inquires in a curious tone, tone deceptively light and eyes blank.

"No, nothing," Yuuki answers after a second, despite her knee jerk reaction to say that _Kurenai is not who I came for._ Kurenai's eyes narrow slightly on her suddenly otherwise blank face, and her grip turns painful, wrenching Yuuki's hand and wrist around so that Yuuki is forced to go even lower as she tries to keep her wrist unbroken.

_"I'm_ the one who gave Zero despair, and you-?" Kurenai's face twists into a sneer before she clears it away. "You grew up happily, didn't you? Your eyes that look straight into mine... They remind me of Zero-chan's when he was a child." She yanks on Yuuki's still twisted wrist and drags her up to slam against the back of the loveseat, Yuuki following the movement as well as she can so her wrist will not be sprained or shattered.

Kurenai's hands rest on her cheeks as she climbs over one of her legs, a knee landing between both of her own. Yuuki wrestles down her fight or flight instincts, knowing that Kurenai is not going to kill her. She's simply making a point, or simply having fun with Yuuki at said girl's expense, wasting time for a reason she has yet to be told.

"You've been protected so dearly... I'm envious," Kurenai says after a moment of studying her face, voice uncomfortably soft.

"... Envious?" Yuuki can't help but parrot back. "Of _me?"_

"You think purebloods are happy?" She coos, seemingly rhetorically, because she continues speaking very soon after, not pulling away as she speaks. "That's fine. We made a deal, so I'll tell you how to save Zero."

Somewhere backstage a door opens, and a suppressed presence enters her awareness. The scent of rotting flowers, old blood and freezing air enter her nose as slow, steady footsteps approach, their gait wide. Kurenai finally pulls away to rest her hands instead on Yuuki's shoulders, settling where she'd been straddling Yuuki's leg to instead sit on it.

"Ichiru, those boys withdrew obediently?" Kurenai asks, looking to the side. Yuuki can't help her twitch at the name, an uncomfortable confusion rising up, flitting along her senses. Ichiru? Zero's brother Ichiru? Her eyes jerk in that direction, though the accomplice does not quite enter her field of vision just yet. The figure enters her vision soon enough, though, and despite the domino mask that covers his eyes and upper face, the boy's figure and silver hair are distinctive and familiar.

_But Zero said-_

"Yes, Shizuka-sama," he says as he enters her field of vision completely.

There's a woman in his arms, with long white hair and pale skin, clothes in an expensive looking kimono, seeming as though she's asleep despite all of Yuuki's senses telling her that she's dead.

"That's my true body," Kurenai reveals close to her ear before pushing away a little more to face Ichiru and her body, not actually getting up from Yuuki as Ichiru approaches. Once he is close enough, Kurenai grabs a hold of the nearest hand, the body inhaling slowly at the contact and opening its eyes, revealing vivid pink irises. "That boy... only has to drink my blood," they say in eerie unison before Kurenai collapses backwards into Yuuki's chest, head dropping on Yuuki's shoulder and nose digging into her neck. Shifting her shoulders slightly so Kurenai collapses instead on her lap, otherwise ignoring the sudden dead weight, Yuuki questions Hio,

"Your blood?"

"Yes. The blood of his Master will prevent Zero from falling to Level E and make him a true vampire," Hio says as Ichiru releases her to stand on her own. She then looks to the tall boy next to her. "Ichiru, take Maria to bed."

Ichiru approaches Yuuki and collects Kurenai's body silently, turning to leave immediately upon having her in his hold. Hio then takes a step forward, sitting down next to Yuuki on the love seat, their knees brushing together.

Yuuki becomes suddenly aware of Zero almost to the building above her and that she had not told Zero about the bare skeleton of her plan.

"We made a deal. Give poor me your blood... I'm being chased, so I need more strength. For that, I need your blood." Hio unties the choker from around her neck, taking the bandages with it, and Yuuki sees her study the bite mark with a little surprise.

"Do you understand what it means for my teeth to sink into you?" Hio asks, her palm flattening over Zero's bite mark on her neck. She doesn't wait for any sort of answer, pulling Yuuki closer to her and bending down closer to her throat, breath inexplicably icy over her skin.

Zero hits the bottom of the stairs, and over the increasingly loud beating of her heart, Yuuki can hear the faintest scrape of metal against stone, indicating that Zero's picked up Artemis as she'd hoped.

Hio's fangs brush against the sensitive skin if her throat, and Yuuki becomes acutely aware, as Zero appears in the doorway of the theatre, that she doesn't have a plan that would truly survive contact. Only a trump card she doesn't know how to play, a vague hope, a desperate kind of fear, and an awakened, restless beast of instinct seething in her subconscious, ready to do _something_ the moment Hio becomes distracted enough and she gets the chance.

* * *

Zero's face goes slack with something Yuuki's pretty sure is terror, and Hio pulls away from her neck without drawing any blood at all. Yuuki sees Artemis drop from limp fingers and then his face twists with fury and he lifts his hands, Bloody Rose held in a two-handed grip that she hasn't seen him use since he'd first received the weapon and was still not 100% sure of his aim's reliability.

In that exact instant, Yuuki registers that if Zero somehow manages to kill Hio or shoot her, she will be hurt and Hio could very likely turn to dust.

_Including the cure of her blood._

"Get away from Yuuki, Shizuka!" Zero snarls loudly.

Yuuki has less than a second to decide that the chance to save Zero from degradation is worth the terror of turning her back on a vampire, and she stands with arms thrown wide before Hio, her heart in her throat and her lungs somewhere close.

"Yuuki, get out of the way," Zero grinds out, anger apparent but worry clear to her beneath that.

"If you manage to kill her, then you can't be saved!"

"That woman, save me?" Zero scoffs.

"To stop yourself from becoming a Level E, you must drink her blood!" Yuuki insists. "To get her blood, I agreed to give her mine. I told you that. If I'm bitten, I'm sure it would be scary, but I'd be fine." She tries to give him a significant look, trying to remind him that she's not really human and wouldn't lose anything she won't _inevitably_ lose _anyway_ by being bitten by a pureblood.

Well she'd probably go mad with hunger for a little while unless she got blood right away, she and her vampire self had agreed on that point, but that wouldn't be forever and she'd be in no danger of falling to Level E.

Zero starts to walk closer, his eyes locked onto Hio and staying there as he speaks.

"Even if I really do need her blood, I can get it from her once she's on the brink of death," Zero says in a voice that's unsettlingly calm. "Can't I, Shizuka?"

Behind her, she hears Shizuka make a sound of amusement, and Yuuki feels the gaze of a predator that's taking a keen interest as Zero gets even closer, so she hurries forward while she has the chance. Zero snatches a hold of one hand and pulls her even further away from the vampire, keeping aim on Hio with a single hand, but Yuuki doesn't get far before Hio speaks.

_"Hello again."_ Something about her tone of voice has changed and Zero's movements grind to a halt, his face pinched with effort that Yuuki sees no sign of. This close to him, his furious terror is even more obvious to Yuuki.

In the back of her mind, the beast shifts.

Unnoticed by anyone, Yuuki's eyes flash livid scarlet for an instant.

"Are you happy to finally hear the voice of your Master?" Hio laughs as she stands, the sound slick and malicious. Yuuki can hear something metallic nearby, rolling, but she doesn't dare look over and draw Hio's attention to it. "Do you not feel like obeying me? It is because I have returned to my real body, that my voice has the_ "power" to "bind"."_

Zero's hand twitches just slightly around her own, and Yuuki flicks her eyes to jus face, finding his expression absolutely frozen.

"Ah... I have an idea," Hio says silkily, _"Hold Yuuki there, will you?"_ Zero's other hand, empty of Bloody Rose, grabs onto the wrist of her other hand instantly, and a terrible feeling blooms inside of her as she watches Zero's face go completely blank as Hio begins to speak. "You do understand, don't you? The commands given by me, your Master and Parent as a vampire, cannot be disobeyed. _Hold her tighter."_

Zero's grip twists and her arms are wrenched behind her back, wrists held at an angle that strains her elbows and pulls her shoulders back, resulting in her chest being pushed forward and her neck being bared, loose hair spilling forward.

"You don't have to make Zero restrain me," she says quickly, a sick feeling building the longer Zero is unable to control himself. "I wouldn't struggle while you drink my blood!"

"Stupid girl... This body has been starving for four years. Did you think that only your blood would be enough?" Hio asks Yuuki in a condescending tone, and that terrible feeling gets worse, twisting, _consuming..._

Hio grabs the back of Zero's head, tilting it back and pulling his tie and collar loose to expose his throat. The scent of blood finds its way into Yuuki's nose, and the expression on Zero's face looks as though he would be crying if he could do so right now. Yuuki can see blood drip down the side of Hio's chin.

"That's enough, _I'm right here!"_ Yuuki's voice is a snarl, and she closes her eyes to hide their no doubt glowing irises as she struggles against Zero's grasp. It's hard to not use her shot of vampiric power to escape and attack Hio, but she doesn't want to risk attacking whilst Zero is under Hio's control and her accomplice is still missing.

Hio pulls away from Zero, swiping the blood from her chin with her fingers and licking it up before turning her attention to Yuuki. Yuuki, eyes still closed, feels fingers trailing across her jaw and then into her hair at the back of her head. Maybe she says something, but Yuuki can't hear it, and she is suddenly released.

Her eyes pop open and she ducks and spins to the side, escaping Hio's grasp immediately. She ducks instinctively, swiping downwards to collect Artemis from where it'd rolled closer during the confrontation. A quick mental check told her that her vampiric self had used what little of an ability it could access to pull the weapon closer.

As if in response to such a thought, Artemis sparks violently but painlessly in her grasp as she extends it. There's a bladed edge on one end, as though Artemis is growing a blade or turning into a sword, but she dismisses it beyond its potential usefulness to focus on the confrontation in front of her.

Zero has a hand on Hio's throat.

"It is pointless, Zero," Hio says blandly as one of Zero's arms falls limply to his side. "_You should just stay still like a marionette for now."_ Yuuki moves closer, steps careful, Artemis held ready to strike the instant that she will be able to do so without catching Zero in the strike.

But unlike before, Zero's previously limp arm lifts and his head drops momentarily, then there's a soft jangle as Zero lifts his head, the chain of Bloody Rose in his teeth and his free hand wrapped around his gun.

"You cannot even put your strength in these fingers on my neck, can you?"

Zero releases the chain and his hand drops limply, as though his strength had failed him. But then Bloody Rose fires, the bullet going through his thigh just above his knee, and Yuuki sees Hio jerk slightly as Zero's fingers tighten around her throat.

_"Don't you take anything from me!"_ Zero shouts before lifting his weapon to fire several shots into the shocked Hio's chest, releasing her after the fifth shot, and the instant there's enough space to do so, Yuuki lashes out, coming in low. The new bladed edge of Artemis impacts with Hio's lower ribs, blood flying and coating it's edge. She flicks it's edge to get the blood off as Artemis sparks angrily at its presence, collapsing it and then re-extending it to ensure it's without blood. The blood is gone from it completely once it's extended, and Yuuki can see the blade at the end is extended even further, looking more like an old fashioned razor more than a sword or spear.

Hio begins to laugh from where she'd stumbled backwards, and Yuuki instinctively sinks down at the somewhat sincere sounding laughter. She throws an arm out as long strips of cloth unravel from her kimono and her hair comes loose. One of the strips flutters over the love seat behind her and when it comes away, the furniture is cut in half. A chill goes down Yuuki's spine.

"You want to kill me, don't you?" Hio asks in a curious tone before it morphs into amusement. "I will not die with this much." Hio smiles at Zero, blood staining her front and dripping from her mouth, eyes more red than pink and glowing brightly.

"_No... More.. From... Me..."_ Zero snarls with similarly red eyes before unleashing a hail of bullets at Hio. She throws an arm, lashing the cloth in her gasp in front of herself and stopping the approaching bullets in their tracks. Yuuki sinks into a lower stance, shifting one knee downwards and Artemis held across herself horizontally as she's prepared to lunge forward and distract Hio so Zero might land a crippling blow and save his life, but it feels as though her blood turns to ice when she overhears Zero's quiet promise.

"I'll finish _everything_."

There's a distant but loud snarl of denial and Yuuki feels her legs tense out of her control before she restrains it, mind working furiously as she struggles to understand Zero's emphasis and find a way for him to live beyond this fight without eventually devolving into a Level E. She hadn't brought anything to hold blood. Why hadn't she-?

"Let's put an end to this and be at ease, Shizuka.. I've lived only for this day," Zero says in a calm tone that _terrifies Yuuki._

"Zero," Yuuki calls, shifting her feet across the ground without actually lifting them and moving closer to her pseudo-brother. Zero actually pauses, which is heartening, but only barely.

"What is it, Yuuki?"

"When you said _everything_... When this fight is finished, what happens to you, Zero?" She asks carefully, fear of his answer present in her heart for all that she is doing her best to ignore it, a suspicion settling amidst it as her beast falls silent, waiting for Zero's answer as intently as she. Zero doesn't look at her, doesn't answer her.

"There's no need to think deeply about it, am I right, Zero?" Hio calls calmly over the small distance, apparently content to let this conversation play out. Yuuki returns her visual attention back to the pureblood, though she keeps her ears pricked for Zero's possible reply and to hear Hio's insidious words. "What has always been deep down in your heart is the desire to perish with me."

Hio's face softens and it's as beautiful as it is terrible. Yuuki's insides freeze and she can't help her attention from swinging to Zero, studying his cold expression and hoping that he will deny her words. That she's enough of a reason for him to live.

"Yeah, that might be so." Yuuki feels very suddenly simultaneously numb and overwhelmed. Any reaction she might have made, any emotion she might try to understand or utilize, is stomped down when her senses tell her of the arrival of the accomplice's return just as a sword impales through Zero's forearm, going straight through like an arrow, getting halfway through before stopping.

"Shizuka-sama... What are you doing, messing around? It's unnecessary," the male Yuuki abruptly remembers is Zero's _supposedly twin brother_ complains in a somehow disdainfully-respectful tone.

"You are uncalled for," Hio snaps in as genuinely angry a tone as Yuuki has heart from her.

"I understand, but I cannot be convinced with this difference in the ways we are treated," Ichiru says blandly. Yuuki doesn't really understand what he means, but her vampiric senses tell her that _Ichiru is human._

_Which doesn't make any sense._

"I thought you were already dead, Ichiru," Zero says as he pulls the sword from his arm with a tight expression, apparently not surprised.

"You remember me, huh, _dear brother?_" Ichiru's voice is mockingly flat, but when he removes the domino mask, Yuuki can see little resemblance between he and Zero, despite their identical faces. "How long are you going to play with Zero, Lady Shizuka? Could it be that you plan to leave the devil spawn as he is? Or... I can't let you die selfishly, it will cause trouble," he says, crossing the room to stand in front of Hio. Said woman makes an irritated sound before walking towards the exit.

"I still have something I should do. You don't have to worry, I don't plan on getting killed," she says in a voice closer to a sigh before vanishing from sight. Zero makes to chase after her, shouting her name, but is intercepted by Ichiru.

"It's horrible to ignore me like that, Zero. Don't you want to talk? It's been a long time, you know?" Yuuki collapses Artemis once more and shifts again.

"Zero?" She questions as Zero steps back from her brother. "Should I...?"

**\- This Is Where Chapters Diverge -**

"You're going nowhere," Ichiru snaps at her as Zero twitches a hand to gesture her on. She inhales quickly before using her position to lunge herself forwards swiftly. Ichiru snarls loudly, the sound inhuman, and he lashes out just as she moves to pass him. She manages to avoid the dagger lashing for her throat, Zero grabbing her by the back of her jacket and yanking her back in time to stop her from dying.

She almost goes flying behind him when he releases her, but she manages to use Artemis to stop her momentum by extending it and using it as a stopper, forcing her body to rotate around the unsteady rod and landing on the ground in a low crouch.

Straightening back up, Yuuki watches as Ichiru and Zero clash. They're both moving technically faster than she should be able to track, movements swift and deadly serious. She tries to rush past a second time, and a foot slams harshly into her chest.

She lays dazed on the ground for a moment, pain embedding itself into her sternum. She's fairly sure that Ichiru will continue to prevent her from passing him and following Hio, but the longer she doesn't follow, the more panic builds and the more overwhelmed and distant she feels.

She rolls to her feet soon enough after some distant blinking, turning her attention then to the fighting Kiryuu boys. Well, they're no longer _physically _fighting, they're talking instead, but Ichiru is talking with enough malice for it to be an attack nonetheless.

"... Until that day, Zero... You always acted like you hadn't noticed that those parents had gradually become meaningless beings to me. And that you, whom I loved very much, I have actually always hated."

Yuuki shifts slightly on her feet, unsure about what she's supposed to be doing and similarly unsure about trying her luck on getting past Ichiru again so soon after her last.

"You should thank me, you know? It was me who asked Shizuka-sama to keep you alive," Ichiru says in a sly voice, the emotions that are visible in his eyes and smile as sour as thr scent gradually beginning to waft from his figure as his blood begins pumping faster, pushing it's scent closer to his skins surface and the air.

Blood, Shizuka's specifically, which was already thick in the air; something that her instincts label as "sickness" or "weakness", which she isn't sure how to translate into more human terms of scent and is unsettling to actually be able to scent, ad hot steel, a sour and tangy scent of bitter emotions suffusing it all.

"Only because after making me suffer life, you wanted to kill me with your own hands," Zero's voice is blank and empty, a harsh sadness and ache dragging it's fingers through Yuuki's insides. _Zero had sounded so hurt when he spoke about Ichiru's death, but he's so... So calm, now?_ She doesn't understand.

"That's right. Have you suffered enough, having your life so twisted by Shizuka-sama? Have you suffered as much as I have? You know, Shizuka-sama changed _my _life, too..." Ichiru's voice, slick with aggression and distaste, lightens just slightly then. "Don't you think that Pureblood vampires, who are so powerful, are like gods?"

"That woman, a "god"?" Zero scoffs after a brief, incredulous silence. Yuuki begins to circle the pair once more, moving by the barest increments by twisting her heels along the floor, trying to edge past Ichiru whilst he's so handily distracted.

"You just don't know a thing about Shizuka-sama. She _kept her promise_, and made me totally estranged from illness," Ichiru declares, lifting a hand and pressing it to his upper chest. Yuuki almost calls him a liar, but holds herself back. Her vampiric abilities surge beneath her skin, mostly untapped save the enhancement to her senses and reflexes, but she's wary of using them in full right now. "I want to kill you, Zero, but if you come with me and swear to be Shizuka-sama's servant, I'll forgive you."

"... If Mom and Dad knew that you felt better, they'd be happy for you, Ichiru." Ichiru twitches as Zero's calm statement, the move sharp as his previously darkly-pleasant expression twists into an expression that Yuuki recognizes as Zero's _shut-up-or-I'll-hurt-you_ face that he commonly employs with vapid fan girls.

The siblings rush each other once more, their words amidst the clash lost to Yuuki as metal grinds together loudly, Ichiru's second blade and his re-purposed sword in Zero's grasp.

Yuuki tries to pass once more, panic spiking past the cotton wall beginning to build itself between she and the real world, but Ichiru disengages from Zero to swipe at her neck, the motion a smooth killing blow. She manages to jerk backwards just in time for it to barely leave a thin red mark like a papercut and Ichiru speaks, voice a low hiss,

"You won't get past me, and if you keep trying, even if I don't have Shizuka-sama's permission, I'll-"

The barrel of Bloody Rose presses into the side of Ichiru's head snd Yuuki's brain scrambles, because _can't Zero sense it? Why would he make such an empty threat?_

"Zero, that won't-" Ichiru interrupts her.

"i thought Anti-Vampire weapons only work on vampires?" Ichiru questions tauntingly, promoting Zero's eyes to widen in shocked confusion as Ichiru brushes the gun away from his head with the back of one hand and stepping away from Yuuki nonetheless. "I wasn't bitten by Shizuka-sama. She let me drink her blood, instead."

Incomprehension, a deep fear and revulsion spring up from the vampire shifting in Yuuki's thoughts. _A human can-?_

The scent of Hio's blood is renewed in the air, cutting off her slightly hysterical thought. Both males grind to a stop.

"The smell of blood... It got stronger," Zero comments, mostly to himself but aloud either way.

"Shizuka-sama," Ichiru rasps, even paler than he'd been preciously, expression slackened with horror, before he shoves past Zero to sprint out of the room.

_"Ichiru!" _Zero turns as though to follow his brother, but Yuuki intercepts him impulsively, lunging to round him and barring his way with both her body and a horizontally extended Artemis. "Yuuki! I have to kill Shizuka-!"

"I won't let you go unless you answer me clearly- when all of this ends, when she's dead, are you going to end your life with hers?!" Zero's eyes widen before his face flattens into solemnity.

"Yeah, but you already knew that."

"... I hoped I was wrong. Am I not-"

"I'm going to die, Yuuki, so there's no reason for you to go to such lengths to try and save me. There's no guarantee that you being bitten wouldn't just turn you into an Ex-human vampire, and... I couldn't take that," Zero says, a hand lifting to press the back to his forehead, face turning upwards.

"I... I don't want to lose you," Yuuki admits quietly. In her peripheral vision, she sees Hio's blood beginning to evaporate off of the floor, and there's a shot of fear in her stomach. _Hio is dying, did Ichiru not save her? Or is she escaping? _But she can't let Zero go without getting a promise from him that he won't kill himself once he's out of her sight, because her vision is getting a little blurry at the edges and she has a feeling that she just might not leave this room whilst conscious.

Zero jerks forward, pushing Artemis out of her hands so the rod clatters to the ground and wrapping his arms around her shoulders and head in a tight embrace, pressing her face against his upper chest.

"You shouldn't feel so strongly about someone like me," he says in a strained voice before saying, even quieter, "I'm glad you're safe, Yuuki."

His words combined with the secure hug is so overwhelmingly comforting and missed that she almost bursts into tears, but before more can happen than liquid building up at the corners of her eyes, she's out of his grasp.

_Ah, I feel so cold..._

"Zero?"

"Stay here," he instructs as he makes his way to pass her, her body locked in place. "... I'll come back, I promise." She doesn't want to wait here for Zero, she wants to go with him as he sprints out of sight, but...

Her legs collapse out from under her as her vampire self starts to fade and lessen, strained from previous lack of use and current lack of sustenance. She turns her head to look at the still evaporating puddle of blood a few feet to her side and, impulsively, she reaches over to try and collect some onto a fingertip.

It vanishes into nothing before her very eyes once she lifts the finger to be in front of her, and there's approaching steps from behind her, their gate unhurried and strides long. She turns, and upon spotting Kain, who looks haggard and incredulously surprised, she immediately notes his lack of Aidou-accessory.

"Cross, what are you doing here?" He questions warily as he approaches, quickening his pace noticeably upon identifying her.

"Where's Aidou?" Pops out of her mouth before she can stop it, and he gives her a _look _at the poor diversion, looking very unimpressed with her, and as he gets in front of her, he stoops slightly with both arms slightly extended towards her shoulders. It takes her a few confused seconds before she realizes what he's silently offering, and she lifts her arms slightly like wings, collecting and collapsing Artemis just as his hands grab her by the armpits.

She's lifted smoothly to her feet, and her legs manage to hold her up by their own power for a second before her knees buckle and her legs give out again. Thankfully Kain hadn't released her completely, and catching her is barely a hassle for him. Yuuki offers him a slightly twitchy, tiny smile, embarrassed at her weakness.

"... Are you okay?" Kain asks, seeming actually concerned, and her smile dims away.

"Mostly?" She offers uncertainly, worry building as more time passes without sign of Zero and the longer she's exposed to Kain._ It isn't anything against him, but... __Why is he here? _

The scent of blood begins to noticeably fade from the room, noticeable even to her now lessened senses , and Yuuki's eyes yank to the side and down, watching as the last remains of Hio vanish into midair. Struggling away from Kain in a near inconsolable panic, Yuuki's knees nearly buckle beneath her once more before she forces them to cooperate and she launches herself from the room, following Hio's rapidly disappearing blood trail and ignoring Kain's startled cry of her first name.

_Please let Zero have gotten to Hio in time-!_

Kain and she make it at the same time, Kain pulling up next to her, and view the scene in silence. A gaping widow in a furniture-less room, Zero standing in the center before a swirling mass of white dust indicative of a deceased vampire, the scent of Hio's blood pervasive in the air even despite it's disappearance.

There's another scent, just below it, but too buried for her to identify.

"Kiryuu, did you-" Kain's voice is loud and _unwelcome, _and Yuuki acts on instinct.

Artemis extends with the force of a powerful strike directly into his chin, cutting him off and making him bite through the tip of his tongue, if the blood that spurts from his lips means anything. Yuuki uses the lowest end to sweep his legs out from under him at the knees, then jams it into his solar plexus, knocking him very solidly unconscious.

Looking back up to Zero, Yuuki approaches him carefully.

"Zero, did you...?"

"No," he tells her curtly, seeming a little shell shocked, though he hadn't even glanced over at her instinctual beat down on Akatsuki. "I didn't."

Something sour curls up in her stomach.


	22. Announcement · Omakes

**So! I've been told that what this used to be was Not Allowed? Instead, I've decided to post all the omakes I've got written right now. I hope you all like them, and I'll just say this:**

**Since all of you apparently unanimously like the original Tenth Night, I'll be continuing the Eleventh from that, but I'll leave the Alternate up for a precedent chapter. But since I've decided to do something so original, then the next chapter might take me longer than normal. I'm going to say sorry in advance for that.**

**In this chapter there's mentions of suicide, panic attacks lots of swearing in the "Body Snatcher" omake and periods. I'm pretty sure that's it, there's the warning.**

* * *

**IN WHICH YUUKI FINALLY CONTRACTS "MOON SICKNESS" || "THE MONTHLIES APPEAR"**

* * *

She'd known she couldn't avoid her biology forever. She'd known it but she had so dearly hoped that it wouldn't happen until she was, like, 15. Or never? _Never_ would be great, really.

_But no._ Here she is, having had to jury-rig something out of paper towels and then run herself to the store in town several miles away to buy pads, new underwear and a pair of pants by herself because when she had asked Zero to do it he had paled and swayed, and Cross had outright _fainted_. She didn't know anyone else to ask!

So now she's curled up in bed, wrapped mostly around a pillow as her lower stomach feels like it's being scooped out and scraped with an old, somewhat dented spoon. She's trying really hard not to cry, because doing so would undoubtedly make her headache worse, and she kind of really wants hugs.

But the boys are ignoring her right now as though her period is somehow communicable, and while she's sure Kaname would not deprive her of hugs, she's not desperate enough to call a vampire to comfort her as she bleeds out. It seems as though it would be incredibly rude to do so.

Yuuki sniffles miserably and stifles a whimper as a particularly painful ache spikes through her entire torso.

"Yuuki?" Cross' hesitant voice calls for her attention from the doorway of her bedroom and she looks up. She can see only his head, as the rest of him is hiding behind the wall, and when she meets his eyes she can literally see any resolutions he had made shatter as he hurries into the room. "Do you need anything, sweetie?"

She sniffles a few more times before nodding.

"Two aspirin… And hugs?" She requests hopefully. Cross disappears and at first she thinks he has decided to flee, but then he's back with an already opened bottle of slightly warm apple juice, two aspirin and another blanket. She takes her medicine and then curls up in his lap, feeling very uncomfortable and terrible.

* * *

**"WHY YUUKI IS NO LONGER ALLOWED TO TAKE DISCIPLINARY ACTION" || HOW YUUKI MEETS WAKABA SAYOR**I

* * *

Someone had been bullying her.

She wasn't entirely sure _why_ they'd started to do so, or who it was, but she's pretty sure she's being bullied. Her school bag winding up out a window, tacks or sticky things being left in her seat and the mess being "forgotten", her notebooks winding up in the hands of others and then defaced on "accident". She's sort of ashamed to admit that it took her this long to notice it, but she's noticed it now.

She's also noticed that she's not the only person they're bullying, either. There's their class rep who is being bullied, a boy with thick glasses and a volume control issue. There's also a girl with short, very pale brown hair and similarly colored eyes. The class rep has been on the receiving end of verbal taunts, but the other girl has been on the receiving end of both verbal taunts and her dorm room being vandalized. Yuuki was angry that the girl's privacy was so violated, as well as her things, but also selfishly relieved that she isn't staying in the dorms.

As she eyes the girl being taunted ("Sasori-yori", "Dead-Eyed Yori"), Yuuki makes a decision. She's been wanting to make friends , and this should be a good way to do so, right?

* * *

"Why do you even need all of this?" Zero asks, holding onto one grocery bag as he picks through it, looking skeptical and sounding wary. "Chili powder, _three_ sewing kits, industrial glue, vinegar and a multi pack of eye droppers?"

"Disciplinary action," Yuuki says in a cheery voice, noticing their final stop with no little amount of excitement. Electrical Home Improvement.

"Yuuki-"

"Don't get in my way, Zero. _I'm going to be making friends."_

* * *

**"YUUKI THE UNWILLING BODY SNATCHER" || WHY IT IS BETTER THAT YUUKI DOES NOT REMEMBER**

* * *

Waking up is painful in a way she can't completely describe. She'd drank herself sick and chewed up at least twelve different conflicting kinds of prescription pills in the basement of an abandoned house, there's no reason why she should be waking up. _There is no way anyone managed to save her or take her to the hospital, no, it's impossible-_

But she_ is,_ and she's in the middle of _fucking nowhere_ in a _blizzard what the fuck,_ and her chest feels hollowed out and everything is wrong. There's blood collecting in the snow at her feet but she can't feel it's source. Looking around, it really is obvious that there's no sign of anything anywhere other than snow, and-

Wait, there's a figure approaching from behind her, coming in her direction. It's a man in a long coat and scarf, and as he gets closer, his face seems animalistic and twisted. He's saying something, but she can't understand it. It sounds like Japanese, and she knows maybe a handful of phrases and words in the language. Why can't it just be English, which is her actual native language?

The man reaches for her, eyes glowing red _(what the fuck?)_ and it takes her maybe a blink of time to decide _'fuck that',_ and bite him, sinking her teeth into the flesh between his thumb and forefinger as deeply as she is able, a high pitched shriek rattling it's way up from her throat with all the force she can devote to it at the same time. The man snarls at her and says something else, arm flexing and then jerking, dislodging her and sending her flying over the snow. Her entire body jars when she is caught by someone, and she almost swallows the webbing of his hand that she'd taken with her.

She manages to spit out the half chewed flesh before that can happen, though if some of the blood found its way down her throat it wouldn't surprise her, despite how disgusting the thought is.

She's being held in someone's arms, her back against their torso. It's either a male or a flat chested female, and their arms are thin beneath the thick sleeves of their coat. One hand, strangely lacking a glove, rises to cover her eyes, but the fingers are not a sufficient barrier between her sight and the image of the man she'd bitten bursting into bloody chunks all over the snow. None of them reach them, and the hand over her eyes disappears only after the figure has turned her body to face them.

"Hello," the boy calls- because _holy shit this is a boy._ Still looking rather stretched out, his eyes reddish brown and his hair a similar shade but darker, most of it reaching beneath his jaw in smooth, slightly wavy strands. "Are you alright?" He asks, shifting so one arm is braced beneath her legs and bottom so the other is free to wipe at her face gently, though she doesn't know why. Distantly, she manages to translate the simple inquiries, but...

She doesn't answer. _Can't_ answer because she's just realized that she's _tiny_. This lanky boy is holding her like she's a toddler with no visible effort and that should not be possible. Last time she'd checked she was 5'4" and 170lbs and a grown adult.

"Hello?" The boy repeats. He says something she doesn't understand and her eyes begin to sting.

_I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't-_

* * *

She wakes up by herself in a bed in a room she does not recognize._ Alone? Alone alone alone alone-_

"Hello," a voice calls for her attention. Her head rolls to the side and looks over, her body going completely still. There's a man with ash blonde hair and glasses in the doorway, his body swathed in blankets. He says something and mentions what she thinks might be a name_ (Kaname?)_ and then droops with a sigh. "My name is Cross Kaien, what's your name?"

Her brain fumbles through the translation before it completely registers, and she's only about 80% sure that it is the correct translation. She's feeling somewhat numb right now, but she's acutely aware that such a thing could change at the drop of a hat.

She says nothing.

* * *

She's afraid, and has locked herself in the closet of the room she's been given.

She's been given a lot of things. A new wardrobe, a new room, a new name (Yuuki),_ a new body_.

It's the first thing she's done without any prompting from the man- from Cross-, and it feels dumb and cowardly but she's nearly hyperventilating, and hypervigilance is playing merry hell on her. Slight shifts in light are obvious, scents are stronger, she can hear things from greater distances, her skin feels incredibly sensitive.

She's not sure _why_ she's afraid, but there's an instinctual fear that's swelling up and choking her, and the more she cries, the harder it is to breathe, her head feeling like it's being pressurized and her chest feeling like it's caving inwards. She's curled up in the farthest corner from the door in the dark closet, knees against her chest and body in the smallest form possible, and is acutely aware she's being nowhere near as quiet as she would prefer.

Loud, gasping cries are scraping past her rarely used throat despite her best efforts, and she would forcibly silence herself if she wasn't so sure that biting herself wouldn't hurt her so terribly. She's starting to calm down now, anyways, sort of.

"Yuuki," a soft voice calls from outside of the closet. It isn't Cross, but the voice is familiar regardless. Her heart rate spikes painfully. "Yuuki, will you come out?" She can't speak, can't move- _scared. Scared. Please. Scared_. "I'm going to come inside," the voice continues. The second the door opens and light comes in, her over sensitive eyes burn and she shrieks, tucking her head against her knees, and the door closes quickly after admitting the body of the other person.

They fold into a seated position, knees against their chest, and across from her. Her eyes eventually manage to see them past the spots in her eyes to see that it's the boy from that snowy day a few months ago.

"My name is Kaname Kuran," he introduces once he sees her gaze on him. She shifts and presses away from him, uncomfortable about being in such an enclosed space with a stranger. Last time it'd happened-

Her next breath is drawn with a small shrieking noise accompanying it, the sound beyond normal human hearing but audible to her too-sensitive ears. Her eyes hurt. Everything hurts. She feels less scared, though, and less panicked and over stimulated, the longer she sits in the dark. The boy is not welcome company, despite his mostly unobtrusive presence, and she wants to make him leave, but the thought of speaking is… unappealing… and working up the energy to _force_ him to leave does not seem possible.

As the too intense emotions finally fade away, she's barely hanging onto consciousness, feeling about as emotional as a press dried sponge and sore enough to imply that she'd gotten the same treatment. Her eyes, especially, are gritty, puffy and dry. Her head lulls onto her knees and the boy reaches for her, probably to pull her out of the closet and put her to bed.

The noise she makes is not loud but distinct, conveying a very firm _no_ and the threat of a meltdown of distressing proportions to occur the instant he comes into contact with her. He pulls away from her immediately, settling his hands closer to his body and watching her with concerned eyes.

"Time for bed," he tells her kindly. She nods, reaching one hand up and yanking at the nearest shirt hanging above her, dragging it down and then wrapping it around herself like a blanket, the material soft and cool against her skin. She can practically sense his incredulous stare, but doesn't react to it.

Thankfully, he doesn't reach for her again.

* * *

Meeting the boy is… stressful. Sort of. She's eleven and a half now, and she's known about vampires for years now, but being confronted with evidence that not all vampires are so gentle as Kuran seems to be has shaken her worldly foundations just slightly. She'd known that vampires were not usually so… civilized, intellectually, but it's been awhile since she's been exposed to such things.

She's not dumb, she knows that Kuran is definitely not a human being. He's a different species entirely, and she doesn't ever try to delude herself into believing anything otherwise. But she's smart enough to realize that he's treating her carefully, and he knows more about her past than he is willing to explain. There's a reason he looks so much like her, but until he acknowledges it and explains, she's content to wait. _Mostly_.

Until she's an adult, anyway. Then she'll confront him if he hasn't explained, and if she hasn't gotten too impatient and found the answers for herself.

She really, _really_ doesn't want to touch him. He's left standing in the hallway as Cross disappears back out the door, and he doesn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, and he's wrapped pretty thoroughly in Cross' coat, but she can smell the blood from where she's standing already- she'd never been able to smell blood before, had she? Cross hadn't even told her his name! What was she supposed to _do_?! He probably hadn't expected that she'd talk to the boy, and so wouldn't need his name, but-!

But as she carefully approaches him, staring into his face, she realizes that he's mentally checked out. He's not paying attention to anything at all, his pupils blown wide, his breathing shallow but with significant pauses between each breath. He's forcefully dissociating himself from the situation… She can relate. Studying him, he doesn't look like he'd know sign, or is in any condition to focus enough to mentally translate it. So…

She opens her mouth and hesitates. It's been a long time since she's spoken a single word, but she needs him to acknowledge her or give her permission to touch him. To touch him without either would be very not okay. It could trigger a panic attack, it could make him lash out, or it could send him into a complete meltdown. Which… She could also relate to.

Touching her in the aftermath of dissociating or a panic attack was _very much a bad idea._ Kuran and Cross had discovered that very quickly.

"Touch?" Eventually croaks it's way out of her mouth. Her eyebrows furrow and she gets a little closer. "Do I… have permission to touch you?" She asks haltingly, the Japanese coming off of her tongue with a slight slur. She knows the words, knows how they're supposed to sound, but she's never personally said them, and they're awkward coming off of her tongue.

He doesn't respond to her, doesn't twitch or shift, eyes still blank behind the shadow of his hair and brow. She can see that they're pale colored, but the exact color is lost to her. She shifts slightly, bending just a little to get a more direct look into her eyes. He's taller than her so it wouldn't usually be necessary, but his chin is practically tucked into his chest, so she needs to do so.

"_Permission_?" She repeats in a slightly more forceful tone, the taste of blood a little thick on her tongue from the scent wafting off of him. She can't see any blood beneath the coat from her position, but that doesn't mean he isn't injured _somewhere_.

The boy jerks just slightly, but his head moves in a nod, his pupils visibly flexing just slightly as though to focus on her but they don't actually seem to do so.

She reaches over to rest a hand on his upper back carefully, her skin crawling at the contact, but the feeling lessened slightly by the cloth of the coat between he and her hand.

"Come on," she bids, words still slurring but slightly less, and moving them in the direction of the bathroom. If he's injured, she can maybe do some first aid. Stitches are beyond her, but anything short of that should be within her power, and the first aid kit is practically a portable clinic, so she doubts she will be lacking anything.

He moves without any fuss, his steps dragging slightly but he doesn't stagger. His back is straight, not slumped, and from where her palm is resting, she can feel the shift and pull of muscle, smooth, if a little slow.

They reach the bathroom soon enough, and she removes her hand from him as soon as she can be excused to do so, orbiting around him to make her way to the sink cabinet and pulling out the first aid kit, resting it atop the counter and opening it up. She then turns towards the boy again, studying the way that he is clutching the coat rather tightly to himself.

"Coat?" She prompts when a soft tug on the material does not get him to release it, and his fists release it swiftly, hands dropping limply to his sides and the coat remaining on his frame only by his shoulders. Yuuki peels it open and then off, dropping the material off to the side and then turning her attention to him once more. Her insides feel squeezed as her eyes lock onto the blood smeared across his throat and chest, his shirt missing and lower half covered by a pair of similarly stained blue pajama pants.

She's almost immediately sick at the amount of blood. But now is not the time to be sick. Not the time.

She inhales sharply through her mouth to try and avoid smelling the blood anymore but that doesn't help, the taste of blood thick over her tongue and sickening, so she simply rolls her shoulders back slightly, orbiting him once more to make her way back to the sink and take one of the washcloths kept beneath the bathroom sink.

Wetting it under warm water, she makes her way back to the boy after wringing it out. Stopping in front of him, she shows him the cloth, water running down her wrist and forearm. He doesn't react, and while she's unhappy about getting so close to him and touching him again, she takes that as an acceptance and steps closer, lifting the cloth and beginning to wipe at the blood.

The corner of the boys lips twitch slightly, as though to snarl, and she pauses. He doesn't follow through on his discontent, so she continues to clean the blood, watching carefully for an injury to be revealed, but none is revealed. She is about as relieved as she is wary, mind already connecting the lack of injury, amount of blood and nature of the attack to the boy's circumstances. But she shouldn't just jump to conclusions, he might just be a fast healer.

The boy doesn't show any sign of being willing to wash himself, and if she draws him a bath he just might drown in the water, if he got in at all.

She's not a stranger to the male anatomy, but she doesn't want to touch him for that long, and has a feeling that he doesn't want her to, either. She leaves the boy in the bathroom for a moment and pokes around the hallway and entryway before discovering a duffel bag that is likely Zero's near the front door.

She collects it and makes her way back to the bathroom, peering at the silver haired boy who is still staring blankly at the floor, shirtless and still. She approaches carefully and prods his arm before making a "follow me" motion with that hand where he can see it. She turns to leave and when she hears his footsteps following, she almost wants to grin to herself but doesn't.

She shows him to the room across from her own, dumping his bag on his bed and then making her way out of the room to go to the living room. The boy follows her still, and she isn't sure if it's because he doesn't want to be alone, or if it's because he isn't sure if she wants him to continue following. As she sits in the armchair in the corner of the room with the kanji workbook she'd been working on before he'd arrived, the chair placed specifically for her comfort, she gestures him to the couch.

He doesn't acknowledge her anymore after he sits down, his attention on the ground as Yuuki quietly works on memorizing kanji and waits for Cross to come home.

* * *

She wakes up from a nightmare in the armchair a few hours later, jerking into a more upright position. There's an unfamiliar disorientation, and her skin feels like it's going to crawl right off of her muscles as she sees a hand on her leg, which she has tucked close to her chest.

The boy is standing in front of her, his eyes intent on her face, and when he sees that she is awake and coherent, he pulls away. She blinks at him for a moment as her nausea and terror fades, and then her eyes widen when she sees the bloody furrows scratched into the side of his neck.

She's pushed up out of the chair and fluttering uselessly about the boy, then, unsure on what to do. She settles for gesturing for him to follow her again and making her way to the bathroom, hurrying slightly, and rushing to pull out the first aid kit. Neck wounds are relatively serious, and while she's fairly sure that they're self harm wounds, they need to be cared for anyways.

As soon as the boy enters the bathroom, she approaches him with the warm cloth she'd gotten ready just in time, cleaning the blood quickly and then tucking an antiseptic soaked cotton pad overtop the still sluggishly bleeding wounds, before wrapping his neck in white gauze to both the sensitive flesh from further harm and stop the pad from slipping.

The boy seems more lucid, and as she steps away to study him, she sees that he'd put on a proper set of pyjamas while she'd been unconscious, but she'd not noticed. She also notices the blood collecting on the fingertips and beneath the nails of his left hand. She slides backwards, tossing the bloody rag into the laundry basket, storing away the first aid kit and then pointedly turning the tap onto a lukewarm setting. The boy studies her for a moment before approaching, and she skips backwards out of immediate arms reach once he is close enough for it to be an issue.

She hovers momentarily in the bathroom doorway before she hears the front door open and promptly flees in that direction.


	23. Eleventh Night

**Aaah, I'm so sorry!**

**I accidentally deleted this chapter _three times_. I _cried_. I managed to get it almost completely done one time, but when I switched to work on it from my phone, it loaded on an older version and then saved that over the almost complete one! It probably seems very short, and that's mostly because it is...**

**As it turns out, I severely over estimated my ability to write this chapter in any reasonable amount of time. I kept getting to the shower, deciding I hated it and then restarting, or forgetting what I'd been planning to write after a specific sentence and then restarting, or, like I said, I erased it. I keep refreshing the page without saving and it's driving me insane. I'm crazy late, as well... I've just not really had the energy... I work for roughly 8 hours a day this summer and a lot of that is really mentally tiring, so I've only had so much energy and time to devote to this a day...**

**(Yes, I'm _full_ of excuses.)**

**Yuuki is a surprisingly empathetic character for me to write, as well, and the more tired I am, the less I'm able to be such, so half the time I wasn't even able to write_ at all_. It also turned out rather... _strange,_ I think... That said, in this chapter, I tried my hand at writing Zero's POV! Let me know what you think!**

**(I'm probably going to go through my old chapters and fix the names, because it's come to my attention that I repeatedly got surnames and given names mixed up? Why didn't anyone tell me I feel _so dumb!) _The next chapter will likely come out sooner, as there's a bit of canon I can stick in it so beef it up.**

**_Leia, It's nice to see you again! I'm glad to do so! But, I feel like you're giving Yuuki a lot more credit than she really has, though? Don't put the cart before the _****_horse, I think, is the relevant metaphor here_**. **_I just don't want you to be disappointed in me or Yuuki._**

**_Kurochach, I poked around a little and I think I know what you mean? Honestly though I don't know how the whole spell works beyond that Yuuki in canon had started to resist it and it was giving her hallucinations and stuff because her vampiric nature was so immature (as in it seemed to have the mentality of a traumatized girl relying mostly on instinct) and it was "devouring" her "human self", and that's mostly from memory. But I'll take your word for it, use my own speculations and run with them!_**

**_Tran Nguyen Hanh, I'm glad you reviewed and that you like my fic! I'm doing my best, and hope to continue putting out content you and others will enjoy!_**

**_Minnidog118, yeah, Akatsuki was inevitable and thus couldn't catch a break (cough-snitches-get-stitches-cough-cough)._**

**_Tenshi-Oujosama, yeah I know what you meant _****haha... ****_I'm just not completely up to finding any pre-existing/canon Night Class personality quirks, interests and hierarchies, and the conflicting personalities and mind sets of me and the vampires that I can maybe try to understand means my characterization would be sketchy or terribly off, and I don't want to put too much effort into something like that that I will inevitably hate creating / not post / erase completely. Like I've said, if I see an opportunity or think of something, I will post it. Right now I'm seeing what I can do from Akatsuki's POV in an omake, though currently I'm unhappy about it sooo._**

**_006Sam, it's meant to feel rushed and disjointed. Yuuki is sort of in shock, and just got her head slammed into a wall. Her words aren't 100% for Zero, she's partially saying them just to say them._**

**_To that guest reviewer whose review I actually moderated (the first review of which I've done so!) that was a really negative review and while I'm willing to answer some of what you've said, I'm not going to just let you talk to poorly to me and my story, I'm not going to immortalize that review._**

**_I'm sorry that it took me so long to update, okay? I tried to do it sooner. And I've rationalized it to myself, but I'm using Seiren as a precedent for Yuuki's abilities, no matter if in the end I make her a level C vampire or a Pureblood (still not completely decided). I'm not trying to make her a Mary Sue, this is just how I'm writing her. If you don't like it, please stop reading and just go._**

* * *

She wakes from a dream she can't quite remember, feeling like she's a metaphorical two steps to the left of where she should be, and with a song she can't exactly hear ringing in her ears like a shrill siren.

Blinking fuzzily at the vaguely familiar but dark ceiling, Yuuki decides she's more sore and tired than is reasonable for just having woken up, and then wonders when she'd fallen asleep and what she'd been doing before that. But then she brushes that off, trying to encase herself more thoroughly in the warm, comforting-scented blankets she's currently swaddled inside.

But now that she's at least marginally awake, she's all too aware of her clothes being twisted up around her limbs, what feels like an awkwardly shaped nightgown constricting her. Her hair feels like it's tangled and matted to her face and neck, and her fingers ache from how thoroughly she's clenched them in the sheets and blankets. With a muffled, low groan of mingled despair and irritation as the feelings truly begin to bother her, Yuuki extricates herself from her blankets before attempting to untangle her legs more specifically. Her vehemence in doing so, though, sends her toppling over the side of the bed.

Her heart seizes in her chest, the only thing keeping her from smashing her head and, more importantly, her _face_, into the floor is a hastily thrown out hand which is already going numb from the pressure of it being all that is holding her up.

The effort to hold herself up and catch herself, even, proves to be for naught, though, as the rest of her body follows her head, arms and shoulders soon enough. Her face doesn't hit the ground with much force, but as her shoulders hit first, and then her left hip, they _do_ hit with more force than they would have naturally due to her instinctive flailing to prevent her fall. She whines low in her throat as the impacted sites tingle painfully, the sound unexpectedly high and loud in her ears as she lays half on her side and half on her stomach on the hardwood floor of the room. After a time, Yuuki banishes the traitorous sting of tears in her eyes before flopping onto her slightly tender stomach and then getting up, moaning miserably to herself the entire while.

Stumbling into the pitch dark bathroom is simple enough, despite the fact that her first reach for the door handle comes up short enough to make her stumble over her own feet and the force of her reach, and while her second reach does find the handle in her grasp, she turns out to be much too close to the door, and the wood swings into her face with enough force to make her momentarily see stars, and send her balance off enough for her to actually back up a few steps. Turning on the light is the source of much less injury, though the brightness of the bulb_ (only one? Weren't there three above the sink?)_ is just slightly painful to her abnormally sensitive eyes.

She avoids looking into the mirror.

Wrestling her way out of the nightgown without really bothering to see the garment at all, Yuuki tosses it to the floor once free and turns her muzzy attentions to the shower, keeping enough presence of mind so as to use the correct soaps, at least, though the bottles seem smaller than she's used to _(the shampoo and conditioner, especially)_, and something about them niggles in her head. She's almost completely rinsed out the conditioner from her hair when she realizes what's bothering her about the soaps.

_They're not hers._

The realization is inexplicably jarring, and her hands, still in her hair, flex and tighten and _yank_, completely out of her conscious control. She makes a short, high and pained sound that she couldn't have stopped if she'd wanted, and her body tries to move to mitigate the damage before she can think any better of it. She feels her feet moving just as it occurs to her that she's trying to slide into _a stance in the shower-_

Her feet slip out from underneath her and she instantly goes crashing to the floor of the shower, elbows and head cracking sharply against the porcelain just seconds before her tailbone, shoulders and upper back. Her fingers are jolted out of her hair at the impact at the coast of what feels like entire clumps of hair, her scalp full of searing pain, and she stays completely still for awhile as the shower water pounds down on her lower stomach and thighs, just barely holding back the very strong urge to burst into helpless, _furious_ tears.

She recovers just as the shower water is beginning to cool, getting herself gingerly to her feet as her entire body throbs with pain, turning her attention to finishing her hair. The task seems to be more cumbersome that she remembers it being despite knowing that it isn't, but she waves that off the the hassle of doing so while so sore and tired and contemplates, not for the first time, shearing all of it off at her jaw.

After finishing her shower and hunting around the bathroom for the towels and pajamas she knows she keeps in the cabinets and finding only a single overlarge towel, she wraps herself up in it's fluffiness and turns her attention to the clothes she'd discarded onto the floor.

She pulls up short upon seeing them, however, in confusion. She _does not_ recognize that pile of fabric. Not even slightly. Which doesn't make sense, because she'd been wearing it. It's pale pink, made of a fancy and expensive looking material. It's niceness is ruined only by the wrinkles and very slight rips in it from both her sleeping in it and what she'd done whilst wearing it.

It's also definitely _not a nightgown._ It actually... looks more like a _dress_?

She bends to lift the dress into the air to look it over, trying to see if a better perspective will jog her memories any better.

It does not, and after awhile of baffled staring, she decides to just deposit it into the hamper with the rest of her clothing. When she turns back around to leave the room, she sees the mirror, remarkably un-fogged and still too far to reflect her image at her.

She doesn't want to look into it. Something in her chest aches at the thought of looking into it.

But that's dumb, there's no reason for her to be afraid of her reflection. So with a resolute huff, Yuuki squares her shoulders, puffs her chest up and approaches the mirror.

That feeling of everything being off increases to hair raising levels as she stares herself in the mirror and finds absolutely nothing off. Something in her subconscious insists that her reflection is _wrong,_ but she can't see anything different. Her hair is the same waist-length dark reddish-brown, though it's slightly darker because it's wet; her eyes are the same reddish-brown color; her skin is still just as pale, though a little flushed from the hot water.

_Nothing is different._

But her skin is crawling with unease, and so she leans closer to the mirror over the sink and studies herself even more closely, trying to find what is so unnerving about her reflection that she's just missing, apparently. The more she sees nothing wrong, the worse the feeling gets, and so she leans even closer, searching somewhat desperately for what's unsettling her so.

She only actually sees it because she's so close to the mirror, honestly. But her eyes _aren't_ the same. It's such a small, subtle difference, but the shade of her eyes is different. Instead of being more brown than red, her eyes are more reddish-bronze, now, with threads of amber near her pupils. When she'd been farther from the mirror, it had only been a shade of difference, but since she'd been so intent on that "off" feeling, she'd noticed it right away.

The feeling persists though, and so she leans back slightly to look herself over more thoroughly, looking for any other difference that might have passed her notice.

_I'm... I'm forgetting something. Maybe I should ask nii-sama-_

Her thoughts scramble into immediate, dissonant chaos, her vision going white as she stumbles back a startled step.

* * *

When Zero finally manages to peel Cross away from himself, insisting that Yuuki is in his room, and if she wanted to see him, she'd leave and go to him, he enters his room and expects to see the girl sleeping in his bed like she'd been over the last day and a half. Despite the darkness of his room, which had been intentional on his part to protect her undoubtedly sensitive eyes, he sees that she is clearly out of bed, his blankets strewn half over the bed and half over the ground.

Her scent is still present, still fresh, the scent of something sharply blooming, and an old pile of fallen leaves, and he can hear the slowed heartbeat of a vampire is audible in his bathroom. He hesitates in approaching the bathroom door, knowing that Yuuki doesn't have any clothes and probably showered while she was in the bathroom. He doesn't particularly want to go in and possibly see her undressed, but that sends a spike of shame through him, as Yuuki had always been willing to help him when he was dissociating, even if he was in the bath or in the shower. She had, in fact, saved his life a few times when he'd nearly drowned, and helped him dress more time than he will _ever_ admit to.

So he contemplates just leaving to go and collect some clothes for her, which would undoubtedly include getting her unmentionables for her. With a frown and a small head shake, he goes instead to his own dresser and digs out some of his own clothes, knowing that she doesn't mind wearing them and in fact sometimes prefers to do so. She'd never explained that to him, but from what he could tell from various bouts of people-watching, girls wearing the clothing or close friends seemed to be a fairly common thing.

He knocks gently on the bathroom door, not wanting to hurt her ears with an unexpectedly loud sound, calling out as he does so, "Yuuki?" Yuuki doesn't respond to him, only silence greeting his call. There's a moment of indecision on his part before he opens the bathroom door, sliding into the bathroom door and flicking his gaze to Yuuki quickly, prepared to look away if there's too much skin on display to his eyes. She's wrapped in a towel, though, so his eyes remain on her as he studies her more thoroughly.

She's standing just in front of the mirror, looking as though she'd been pushed and barely caught herself, her expression shell-shocked and unstable, body frozen stiff, locked in place. The expression on her face is uncomfortably familiar to him, though. He'd seen it on himself plenty of times when he'd been younger and just recovering from the trauma of _that night._

It's an unwelcome sight to see on Yuuki's face, and he doesn't quite understand why that expression would be on her face.

"Yuuki?" He circles around to be in front of her, depositing the clothes on the sink counter before he bends slightly to look more directly into Yuuki's eyes, repeating the call. When she doesn't respond, doesn't even seem to see him, he lifts a hand and waves it in front of her eyes, trying to jog her attention closer to the present. Her pupils constrict sharply at the movement, and they follow the movement, but he can't see any recognition in them. Throwing caution to the wind, Zero drops a hand onto her shoulder.

Yuuki drops like a stone beneath his hand, and he scrambles to catch her before she can get hurt, yelping her name involuntarily. He manages to catch her in time, and he hoists her into a princess carry, deciding that staying in the bathroom isn't quite what he wants to do right now, as the humidity and brightness will likely not help the situation at all, so he exits and deposits her into his bed. She's still dripping wet, everything about her damp so she'll likely soak his bed, but that's not what's important right now.

Upon releasing her, one of her hands lash out to catch one of his wrists, holding him in place and finally focusing properly on his face,

"Ze-Zero? I remember. I- _Kana_-" She trails into what sounds like several sentences at once, talking over herself with increasing panic and upset, until Zero, grasping at straws, decides to try her surest usual de-stressor, grabbing a hold of her and reeling her close to him in the tightest hug he is able.

Her hands grip onto the back of his shirt immediately, and if she wasn't holding him so tightly, Zero might've released her in surprise when she bursts into loud, heavy tears. But when his hands instinctively move to release her, Yuuki makes a foreign, pitiful sound and grips onto him even tighter and so he obligingly re-tightens his hold, worried for the girl he'd pretty much adopted as a little sister without his full, conscious permission.

He'd teased her about it before, them being siblings, but it feels a little too real right now for him to say it was only a result of him teasing her, or him only going along with her when she'd suggested them being siblings.

Not that he's going to ever admit that aloud to anyone. Except maybe Yuuki.

"I-" Yuuki hiccups the word a few times before managing anything coherent, pressed tightly into his sternum, _"I remember, _but I don't _understand_! _Why-?_" She breaks off there, her tone making something unpleasant swell up in his head, not that he reacts on that. Yuuki doesn't want or need him to break things right now, or go out to attack someone, even if it's on her behalf.

"Yuuki." It's a struggle to keep his voice level and calm, but he manages, not that Yuuki really even seems to see him. He looks down at her a little helplessly as she continues to cry and babble nonsensically.

"I-?_ Nii-?"_ Her voice cracks into a high, distressed whine that _very thoroughly_ slams his usually semi-dormant vampiric instincts spinning into a new and unfamiliar direction, prompting him into actually dragging the towel-clad girl completely into his grasp and pushing her head against his throat. It's an instinctual thing, completely foreign and detached from/to his conscious mind, but it actually makes Yuuki relax and breathe a little more deeply and easier, though she continues to cry and her heart-rate continues to be fast.

"Yuuki, can you hear me?" He decides to speak up finally, feeling that she might be able to hear him better now that she's not stumbling over herself in fits of emotion. "Breathe with me, it's going to be okay," he insists as she continues to sob.

It takes an uncomfortably long time for Yuuki's crying to stop, though her breathing remains rough and fast.

When she stops crying, it's all at once.

* * *

... Her head hurts. And so does her chest, her lungs and her mind. She feels wrung out and wound up and- _it hurts._

But Zero's hugging her, so it hurts slightly less than it did when he hadn't been. At first, it had made everything worse, because it had been such a long time since she'd been so kindly touched _(hadn't it?)_ and it was so unfamiliar _(right?)_ that she'd almost been afraid. But then she remembered it was Zero that was holding her- Zero, who she'd been helping heal and who she'd been living with; Zero who she'd been forcing into physical contact for years; Zero _who she trusted_; Zero who's her _brother._

The relief of that realization had sent all of her pent-up frustration and stress and pain spewing out in tears. She'd tried to explain to Zero, but it hadn't exactly worked from what she'd been able to hear of herself over the blood rushing through her ears. Her thoughts are cycling in rapid circles so much that her head is throbbing.

She's divided. On one hand, _she wants her brother. _She wants Kaname with a childish fervor, wants the brother who helped her with her nightmares and played games with her and told her stories of the outside world. But on the other hand, she _already has_ her brother. Zero is here with her and he's making a noise she remembers her father making when he held her after a bad dream and it's absurdly comforting.

_She doesn't _want _Kaname!_ Doesn't want him! She can remember what he'd done now and she doesn't want to forgive him for that, doesn't want to see he who sentenced her brother to a slow and spiraling death.

Her tears stop before she even realizes it, her throat aching and her eyes sore, her breathing slowing down and her heart beat slowing down.

Zero's holding onto her very tightly now, and that noise is vibrating his throat which she's pressed against, and she feels her face starting to crumple again more insistently, feeling like she wants to cry but not feeling anymore tears coming. She presses her closed eyes against his skin more closely, hoping that it will help the feeling.

She can feel her two sets of memories struggling. Between Kuran Yuuki and Cross Yuuki, the attachments and emotions fighting for supremacy. It doesn't feel like she's going to disappear, and she knows that the fight will end in favor of Cross Yuuki, but for now, it hurts.

"Breathe deeply," Zero's voice seems to come from far away, muffled but insistent, and she tries to do so. Everything seems distant and out of her control, but she feels Zero inhaling, and it's somehow easier to breathe with him than it is to breathe alone.

"Zero," her voice is so quiet she barely hears it, high and warbling, "Zero, I remember _everything _and it hurts... I was right about being a Pureblood... Kaname's my older brother, but I don't-"

She chokes on the words, emotion swelling again, and presses back close to Zero.

"Yuuki," Zero tilts his chin down so it nudges her head slightly away from him, arms just barely loosening, and she whines but moves back away.

The distance provided lets her wrap her head around the fact that she's wrapped only in a towel, and she feels her face start to heat up. One hand reaches back blindly as she becomes aware that she's practically naked in Zero's lap, and the instant her hand comes in contact with the comforter on his bed, she yanks it down and swaddles it around herself, wiggling off Zero's lap and into her cocoon. There wasn't anything sexual or uncomfortable about being in Zero's lap, honestly, but staying there didn't seem wise now that she has herself under control.

"I... I'm going to go and take a shower, okay," Zero tells her, taking in what little of her face is visible from inside her cocoon, and she nods at him exaggeratedly so the movement is clear. With a hesitant look, he straightens up to a stand and then moves towards the bathroom before pausing. "I laid out some clothes for you on the-" he cuts himself off, moves into the bathroom and then comes back out with a pile of clothes. "Here are some of my clothes for you, but you're free to go and get your own from your room."

She nods again and doesn't move until Zero's in the bathroom completely. Standing with the blanket still wrapped around her, Yuuki waddles over to the pile of clothes and picks through them. There's a black button-up shirt, a pair of Zero's pajama pants, a tank-top and a pair of boxers. She blinks at the articles before getting dressed without complaint. If the boxers got uncomfortable, she would just go to her own room and change into an actual pair of underwear. But once she's dressed, she stalls, eyes locked on the nightstand.

There's the Artemis Rod on the nightstand, with Zero's blood tablet case on the stand next to it, as well as Bloody Rose.

She reaches for it automatically before flinching back, listening to the shower in the bathroom starting up as her eyes remain on her weapon. She knows it isn't likely to reject her- Bloody Rose hadn't ever rejected Zero even since he'd totally turned and the gun was _vicious-_, but she was still afraid. As she extends her hand out again, she hears a small clink just as her hand is about to touch the metal. There's something like a match being struck, a click and then a hiss, before there's a blinding flash of lightning and magic, the air smelling like ozone and heat, sending her head spinning dizzily. She cries out as her legs go limp, her eyes and wrist burn and her ears hear only a high pitched tone.

It takes awhile before her ears stop ringing and her eyes are willing to see again, her body collapsed onto the ground. As soon as she is able, she investigates what the _hell_ just happened.

Her wrist stings as she lifts it to eye level and stares in blank confusion at the subjugation bracelet on her wrist that she totally forgot she was wearing. To be fair, it _was_ spelled onto her wrist, so it was mostly just _there._ The metal isn't hot to the touch, isn't sparking, but the charm where the spell is centered remains stuck to the Artemis Rod until she yanks her hand sharply, making it detach with a sharp, metallic snap.

She stares at both Rod and bracelet like they're going to kill her for a few seconds before there's a crash in the bathroom and then Zero comes hurdling out of the room, towel wrapped around her hips and dripping soapy water everywhere, looking more than a little panicked as he stares at her.

"What'd you just do?!" He demands.

"I- I didn't do anything ! The bracelet and Artemis just reacted to each other by themselves! Why, what's wrong? What happened?" She hadn't thought that Zero would notice anything from in the bathroom, what with the door closed and the shower running.

"You disappeared," he explains with wide eyes. "You were faint before, because you're still turning, but now you're completely gone," he explains. Yuuki puzzles that over for a second before realizing what he means and turning slightly widened eyes to the bracelet around her wrist.

"Do you think the suppression bracelet is... suppressing _me?_" She questions slowly, shaking her wrist and letting the metal chime lightly as it reflects the little light in the room, looking for any physical sign of a spell at work. She sees nothing, which isn't surprising, but when she looks up at Zero, she certainly sees his towel starting to slip as he stares at her bracelet as well.

"Ah! Towel!" She yelps, slapping a hand over her eyes reflexively. She hears Zero swear and then scramble to catch his towel seconds before she hears him running back into the bathroom to presumably finish his shower. She peeks towards the floor once the door's closed, finds none, and then lowers her hand to stare at the bracelet again.

It doesn't feel or look different, and she herself doesn't look or feel different, either. With a curious expression on her face, Yuuki sits down on Zero's bed and crosses her legs, placing her hands over her knees and searching out the vampiric energy she'd discovered the night before she'd gone to confront Shizuka. When she finds it, she studies it cautiously. Back when she'd still been, for all intents and purposes, human, it had been shallow and spread thin all throughout her body, concentrated mainly over her heart. Now that she's beginning to turn into a vampire, or is already a vampire, she isn't sure right now, it seems denser, though still widespread, with a heavier concentration in her chest.

It takes some effort to move the energy of her own accord rather than simply allowing it to pulse inside of her, but once she gets the hang of it, she slides a portion of it more fully down her arm with the bracelet, pushing until it comes across the bracelet to examine it.

It's very defined to her vampiric senses, feeling both freezing and scalding, and acts like a dam. A small trickle of her energy will seep past, but a large amount won't go through. She can tell she could force through it, but that same sense tells her that to do so would completely break the bracelet and cause something like an explosion, and she isn't 100% sure her body would make it through that unscathed, not to mention anyone nearby.

When she opens her eyes, she finds that the exercise was more tiring than she'd expected, with a gnawing hunger beginning to work it's way through her lower stomach, her throat feeling rough. She can't tell if it's her body's first want for blood since that night, or if she's just wanting _actual food_, but she doesn't want to ignore it, just in case. So she fishes out a few of Zero's blood tablets just in case, tucking them into the chest pocket in Zero's shirt before approaching the bathroom door and tapping on it lightly.

"Zero, I'm going to go and get some food," she explains before walking out of the room. The hallway is empty, and from what she can hear, the house is otherwise quiet. It sounds like Cross is in his study, flipping through papers, and as she walks down the hallway, she comes within visual distance of a window and guesses the time to be sometime in the late afternoon.

She enters the kitchen with a shrug, stomach rumbling, and starts to dig through the fridge for something she can make quickly and easily.

* * *

**July 30th Edit: I went back and changed "akatsuki" to "kain" in previous chapters. Please tell me if you see anything notably out of order, as my documents aren't 100% labelled correctly.**


	24. Twelfth Night

**So! Canon events mixed with original events, Yuuki trying to get used to the changes in her subconscious and her instincts, as well as the beginning stages of turning into a vampire!**

**Tell me when you see the changes, some of which will be obvious and some will be subtle!**

**I decided to make Yuuki a level C vampire, which is basically a "normal" vampire. But as shown with Seiren, in the manga outright and in her online bio, who is also a level C vampire, even the normal ones have abilities. Though not anything flashy or specialized (It says Seiren has the ability to teleport, which I haven't seen any actual sign of so I personally think she's just stupid fast, which fits with her "martial artist" vibe). And as shown with Zero, he didn't start to really struggle with his vampire thirst and the effects of turning until at least a year after he was bitten (canonically!), and while Yuuki is different from that due to her immediate ingestion of Shizuka's blood and the remaining "pureblood-ness" of her body and mind, I'm going to use that as a sort of template.**

**_BloodyLoved, aaah! Thanks so much for the nice review! Seeing it made me really happy and motivated to write! I'm glad you like what I've been doing, and I hope to hear more from you in the future! As a small side note, sorry for the late updates and stuff. As you might imagine, writing like this is pretty~ difficult~._**

**_All those nice reviewers with kind words and thanks, nice to hear from you! It makes me happy to see reviews like that, I'm glad you don't seem too angry with me!_**

**_And everyone who favorited and followed, I'm glad you're liking this story so far!_**

**[The Update Schedule can be found on my profile page, which I will keep updated as often as possible.]**

* * *

Food _does_ soothe the hunger, a glass of chilled apple juice doing wonders for her headache as well, but as she starts to clean off her dishes, Cross flies into the room with wide, teary eyes and a panicked cry of her name that makes her ears ring. Before she can recover, he's swept her into a swinging hug, throwing the both of them around the room. By the time she can hear again, admittedly a few seconds later, he's babbling about how he's sorry for whatever he did to make her avoid him and hide in Zero's room, asking her why she'd been in there at all and why she hadn't gone to school either yesterday, or today and _why are you wearing Kiryuu's clothes, Yuuki, did he take advantage of you?! Does daddy need to-_

He doesn't get to finish and she doesn't really get to answer before Zero comes to her rescue, coming into the room and plucking her directly out of Cross' hands, lifting her by the back of his shirt and punching Cross in the chest.

"Get your head out of the gutter!" He shouts before hauling her out of the room towards her own room, depositing her inside the doors, telling her to get dressed and then closing them behind her as she hears him turn back to where Cross' wailing is getting closer as he undoubtedly follows them.

Standing in her room a little dizzy, Yuuki quietly wonders what's going on before deciding that there was little harm in getting dressed. Zero probably has a plan, and that probably involved taking her outside and maybe on patrols. She kind of wants to stay inside, continue to hide away, but she also knows she can't, and it's better for everyone if she leaves the house with someone who knows her situation.

She's pretty sure she's not going to have any trouble with keeping in control of herself, as she doesn't feel very different, instinctively or otherwise, but it's always better to be safe than sorry, which Yuuki completely understands. So she turns her attention to her clothes after putting on appropriate underwear and stares at her school uniform, which is on her bed from where she'd laid it out at some point. Studying the uniform, Yuuki stares at the skirt of the uniform, and remembering wearing it seems so distant.

She... Doesn't want to wear it.

She does _not_ want to wear the skirt, not at all. She can't figure out why, but the idea of wearing it is turning her stomach, making goosebumps crawl all along her skin and disgust curl in her chest...

Shelving the issue for now, Yuuki digs through her clothes and pulls out some casual dark pants, a tank top and a sweater before getting on her socks and shoes instead of putting on her uniform. Habit has her pulling up her sleeve to attach the Artemis holster to her arm, and then pulling up the back of her shirt and wrapping her gun holster around over-top of her tank-top.

She reaches towards her nightstand, where she usually sets her anti-vampire weapons if she doesn't sleep with them on her person, but her hands come up empty on Artemis, and when her fingers wrap around the gun, her fingers instinctively release it out of fear.

But... The gun... _Hadn't reacted?_

She stares at her unharmed palm with wide eyes before crouching down to collect the gun from the floor once more, closing her fingers around it and focusing on the weapon. It doesn't feel any different to her now than it did before, despite her supposedly-vampire status, though that might just be the bracelet at work. She stands as the door behind her opens up and then holsters the weapon, pulling her sweater down and turning around.

Zero blinks at her clothing choice for a moment before walking over and extending a hand out towards her, that fist gripping the Artemis Rod, which is sparking furiously. Yuuki steps back slightly, eyes fixed on her weapon, and Zero pauses.

"Yuuki, don't flinch away," Zero says in a firm tone before continuing so quickly she wasn't able to step away again. Artemis is pressed into her hands and Yuuki's eyes squeeze closed, waiting for pain that doesn't come. Instead, she feels a small jolt and Zero moving away as Artemis extends in her grip without her conscious control. She peels open her eyes hesitantly as Zero yells in surprise, and she stares in gaping shock at the wicked looking scythe she's now holding.

It's shaped vaguely like two lopsided bat wings, one drastically larger than the other, with a small point at the end of the rod and a jagged edge along the top. It isn't a neat or contained shape, with a deep curve and what almost looks like veins swelling through the entire upper and outer edges, the blade itself about half as long as the actual rod. It gives off the feeling of something ready to draw blood, ready to end lives, which is more aggressive than she's really used to.

She doesn't know what she's supposed to do with a weapon like this- _she doesn't know how to use a scythe, even!_ She and Zero both stare at the weapon in shock.

"Artemis, what-?!"

The weapon sparks, as though with recognition at it's name, and then they watch with wide-eyed shock as the metal recedes into the rod by itself, the weapon soon enough looking like it always had. Yuuki stares at it before collapsing it and then re-extending it, checking to make sure the scythe version will not appear by itself again just because she's extended it. She and Zero stare at the weapon with wary eyes before Yuuki collapses it again and slides it into her holster.

"I think that's something to... Investigate later," Yuuki admits in the following silence, and is vaguely relieved when Zero nods slightly and then twitches an arm to gesture her to follow him. She trots closer to be just behind him as they leave the room then speeds up slightly to be beside him as they enter the hallway completely.

She doesn't see any sign of Cross until they're passing the dining room, where Yuuki glances in at a sound and sees Cross collapsed in the midst of the shattered table and a broken chair, one arm lifted in something like a feeble surrender or plea for help. She stalls for a moment, but Zero hooks a hand in the back of her sweater and moves her along.

"No sympathy for the stupid," he says blandly as they continue out of the house.

"Are we going on patrol?" She checks as they walk the familiar path towards the Moon Dorm gates. A glance to the sky shows her that switch-over is growing ever closer. Zero releases her sweater and her feet hit the ground with a "tap". One of her hands reaches out as though to grab a hold of Zero's arm, but her arm misses and she doesn't reach again.

"Yeah. You should still be fine for another month at least," his eyes flick over to where she's nearly jogging to keep up with his steps. "Tell me if you start to feel strange," he tells her in a firm tone.

_Hypocrite_, almost escapes her before she can stop it, and she tries not to choke on her tongue in surprise as she nods in agreement, some of her loose, damp hair falling into her face. With a frown as she checks her wrists for a hair tie, she finds none and falls behind as she reaches blindly back to gather the hair near her temples, smoothing back the central bits of hair, and then she braids first the left and then the right side back. She braids them together once she is able to, merging both sides together and braiding that together with some of the main fall of her hair so it will be less likely to undo.

When she looks back up, she sees that Zero had paused and is looking at her with an odd expression she can't quite identify.

"Zero?"

He shakes his head, as though to banish a thought, and he turns back around. Yuuki frowns, releasing her hair and running to catch back up with Zero.

"Don't leave me!" She pouts and, without thinking, makes a jumping lunge to catch a hold of Zero's arm and constricting the limb as soon as she catches it, legs going limp and basically making Zero drag her. Something tightens in her chest as he pauses and looks at her with a sort of fond exasperation before he sighs and continues walking, though the hand opposite her lifts and pats the top of her head. With a smile and a shot of warmth, Yuuki's legs go limp and she turns so her back is to the ground and so she won't scuff the toes of her shoes as she's dragged down the path.

She snickers to herself in success as they make their way onwards, but falls silent as they get closer to the gate and she begins to hear the day class making a fuss from a distance. They get louder as they get closer, and Yuuki winces.

"How do you stand it?" She complains to Zero. He looks down at her again.

"Why do you think I get so angry?" He questions rhetorically and she feels an expression of understanding on her face. If they're so loud with her barely enhanced senses, she can't imagine what it would be like with full vampiric senses. The closer they get, the more her hearing begins to acclimatize to the noise, and by the time they're circling the mob, all the fan girl-ish shrieking is close to white noise. Slightly disorienting white noise, but white noise nonetheless.

It does make her head ache come back, though, when as they wind up at the front of the group and the students begin to get _even louder_ with their complaints.

_"She's back?!"_

_"No way!"_

_"There's miss high-and-mighty..."_

She and Zero share a look before they move apart and then begin to herd the group back and away, Zero using his normal intimidating aura while Yuuki actually manhandles them somewhat. It's slightly easier and harder than it had been before, though unsurprisingly Yuuki doesn't manage to clear the path before she hears the Moon Dorm gates clock and then begin to open.

The Day Class students immediately part and Yuuki stands before the side closest to her, keeping a weather eye out to prevent any tackles or bull-rushes as the gates open completely and the Night Class begins to file out.

_"Hello!"_ Aidou cheers as he twirls well ahead of the pack. He turns on a heel, one hand above his eyes as though to shade them. _"You're all looking lovely today!"_

Those in front of her shriek and Yuuki hastily throws her arms out, feet bracing so she won't get plowed over.

This would be so much easier if she could use Artemis instead of her arms, but Cross had been very insistent that doing so was Not Allowed, so she is just going to have to continue to deal. Across the gap, she can see Zero casting her a look. Seeing her already looking he smirks before glancing back at his own side and stopping those brave few advancing with a single look.

Yuuki is able to feel a small bit of envy before those in front of her fall still and silent, prompting Yuuki to cast her awareness a little wider than her previous tunnel vision.

She doesn't flinch, but it's a near thing. She forcibly schools her reactions to normalcy, as flinching outrageously or going out of her way to avoid Kaname would not be very subtle, especially in public like this.

"Hello, Yuuki," Kaname's eyes scan over what she's wearing and her face, maybe searching out an explanation for her being missing. His eyes show worry, but behind it, Yuuki feels like there's a resounding hollowness, though she can't see anything different. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes, Kaname-nii," the address is sour on her tongue. "I was just exhausted after the dance and didn't want to get up yesterday or the morning," she explains hastily in the deathly silence.

Kaname's eyes crinkle and he smiles, lifting the hand that isn't holding a book to rest it gently on her head.

A month ago, the move would have made her smile, would have comforted her.

Now it makes something in her stomach twist. Offering Kaname a smile that feels strained as his hand drifts lower to press fingertips to her cheekbone, she feels inexplicably saved by Aidou.

As soon as Kaname has released her to go collect Aidou from where he'd been soliciting some Day Class girls, Yuuki sees that Zero had been on his way over. She gives him a flickering smile before reflexively elbowing a girl backwards in the upper chest, beneath her collarbone.

The girl cries out in pain and surprise, crumpling down. Yuuki can feel the blood draining from her face as the deathly stillness of the mob. For an instant, Yuuki almost thinks they might swarm and attack her, but the more aggressive ones are grabbed and dragged backwards. Behind her, Yuuki hears the Night Class passing by just beneath the yelling of the Day Class as they call her a brute and a delinquent.

Zero hoists Yuuki up with an arm around her waist, lifting her a foot or so off the ground and turning to follow the Night Class towards the school building, easily parting the condensing group in front of them. Yuuki watches with her head turned as the Day Class seethes behind them and feels a little glad that Zero's helped her get away.

Even if they have the advantage of numbers, they're not going to simply rush Zero like they would rush her. And if they had rushed her, Yuuki can't guarantee their safety, as she probably wouldn't think to moderate herself in time in response to the threat.

And, besides, Yuuki doesn't particularly want to be trampled.

Which, with her current state, is more likely to happen than she's going to admit to anyone, even herself.

The Night Class doesn't acknowledge them, which is comforting and tells her that they likely can't sense her, and Zero doesn't let her down until their classmates are out of sight behind them. She touches down with a slight uncharacteristic stumble, having somehow touched the ground both too soon and too late, and a few vampires look back at that with curiosity. Wisely, though, none of them say anything, and the guardians successfully escort them into the school building without incident.

Standing on the path before the doors, they wait a bit before Zero speaks up first.

"How are you feeling?"

"Perfectly fine," she assures with only enough hesitation to check that she's not going to be telling a lie. Which she isn't- beyond the headache and a weird disorientation that she can't find the origin of, she feels fine. Nothing abnormal, nothing inhuman. Nothing dangerous.

The look Zero gives her is searching before he makes a sound that's a cross between a snort and a huff that she probably wouldn't have been able to hear as a human.

"Fine enough to separate for patrols?" He questions. Yuuki doesn't have to think about that before confirming that with a nod. At his hesitation, she gives a verbal response.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He turns away to separate without further stalling and she turns in kind, trotting through her usual patrol route with all her senses on high alert, an uneasy feeling building in her gut and chest.

* * *

She's circling around the academy fence perimeter as a whole after meeting with Zero to confirm that there's no disturbances so far in the Night Class or Sun Dorms when she catches sight of the male figure on the other side of the fence. Yuuki frowns, watching as the figure seems to be peering through the bars of the fence, looking around to try and see if Zero is still in the immediate area. When she can't see him, she scales the fence and looks around a little more, catching sight of a silver head of hair in the middle distance.

Bracing her heels into the razor sharp points of the fence is simple, and as she looks back in Zero's direction, she sees him turn and his face points in her direction. Reassured that he will be approaching soon, she turns to jump down from the fence to look for that figure she'd seen.

Once she touches down, she can very faintly sense the vampiric aura in the area, which is either because the vampire is weak, or because her senses have somehow dulled from what they'd been when she was human. Yuuki drops Artemis into her hands, though she doesn't yet extend the rod, waiting for the vampire to appear.

It doesn't take very long until he does. He's dressed in a suit and a long suit coat, with wire framed glasses, with mousy brown hair cut into an average short style. His head is angled just so that the little light available to them reflects off of his glasses and hides his eyes from her, and he tugs on his tie with a nervous smile.

Yuuki doesn't believe it for an instant.

"This is Cross Academy, I hope? Am... Am I mistaken?" He asks uncomfortably under her unimpressed stare. Yuuki straightens from her landing crouch and pushes back the bits of her hair that had fallen to the front of her shoulders, continuing to watch the man. "Ugh... I came by after overtime work, so it's late, but..."

"Why are you here, vampire?" She interrupts his rambling lies. The man's head twists, and Yuuki sees the glow of crimson eyes from behind the glass lenses. Yuuki extends Artemis as the man's killing intent begins to become apparent.

"Oh, you're a guardian here, then?" The man asks as his entire aura changes with that intent, one of his hands lifting to be in clear sight and exhibit his nails, which are inches long and seem to be razor sharp and pointed. "There's something I want to ask you."

The bloodlust in the air increases even further, and Yuuki's fingers tighten around Artemis, the weapon sparking in reaction. She refrains from trying her luck as the scythe form of her weapon just yet, though.

"Ask, then."

_"Where is the other guardian?"_

Yuuki is already in motion to deflect to block the vampire's lunge towards her, but her timing and balance hitch slightly and she's certain she's about to be maimed before Zero arrives, lacking his uniform jacket.

Zero skids between her and the vampire, locking the fingers of one hand with the mans extended fingers, effectively stopping his attack. His other arm wraps around her middle as Zero pivots to hold her in something like a football carry.

"What's your business with me?" Zero demands with a snarl, showing no sign that gripping the vampire might require effort on his side. The vampire sneers, lifting his free hand to push his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

"Kiryuu Zero, for committing the murder of a Pureblood, Hio Shizuka, by the command of the Senate **[I didn't want to put an A/N here, but I'm going to use "Senate" instead of "Council" of whatever, because that's a dumb mouthful.]**, you are sentenced to death."

The vampire's expression is smug, and when Yuuki looks at Zero's face, she sees his widened eyes. Yuuki, herself, feels something she can't completely understand, but that's terrible.

_Zero killed Shizuka...?_

_...Who told them that?_

"This is a serious crime that can only be paid for with your life. It's a "cheap" bargain, don't you think?" Zero's hand tightens around the man's, fingers clenching and hand tilting. There's the snap and cracks of splintering bones, the vampire's face twisting with shock and pain.

Zero releases her and pushes her away.

"You broke the bones of a vampire-?!" The vampire snarls as Yuuki places herself at Zero's back, Artemis held ready. She's apparently not in top form, but she should be able to do _something_.

Zero seizes a hold of the vampire and slams him into the ground as Yuuki stares at the vampires surrounding them. A quick scan reveals five more vampires, all dressed similarly to the vampire Zero currently had pinned.

"It's too bad there are no "cheap" bargains to be obtained here," Zero says, swiping a sleeve against his inexplicably slightly cut cheek as he straightens up from the vampire, who wisely stays down where Zero had put him. Once Zero fully straightens, Yuuki hears him groan and his breathing speed up, catching sight of his figure doubling over in her peripherals. _Did he get hit somehow? Or-_

"Even if you've defeated me, you cannot escape. We will see you executed." The vampire goes limp on the ground, and Yuuki distantly wonders why Zero hasn't pulled out Bloody Rose yet. "That is your fate." Yuuki feels Zero's back touch her shoulders, and continues to hear his labored breathing.

"Yuuki-" he cuts himself off as the signatures of the Night Class appear to surround them and the assassins.

The vampire directly in front of her cries out in pain, collapsing to the ground in a kneel and then turning into dust. The vampire to his right turns and exclaims in shock as the Night Class comes into clear view.

"The Senate has consented to this school, and it was already inevitable that that woman would hunt down Kiryuu-kun," Kaname says as he approaches from in the trees.

"Ku-Kuran Kaname-sama...!" All the foreign vampires drop into low bows.

"Kiryuu-kun shouldn't be prosecuted for the sake of protecting that pureblood's "sacredness"," Kaname continues.

"Kaname-sama, if you stand in our way, we won't be able to preform our duties- if you would just let us do so, we can leave you to your honourable school friends easily."

"I thought all my efforts to warn against dishonouring this academy with any foolish behavior were clear- even to dogs of the Senate." Kaname's previously serene expression flattens and his aura darkens.

"Kana-" The vampire who speaks is cut off as his shoulder explodes at a gesture from Kaname, as though he'd been shot.

"Disappear," is Kaname's low toned command.

"... The fact that you have defended Kiryuu Zero will be reported to the Senate, Kaname-sama." The vampires flee, and at a gesture from Kaname, the Night Class students begin to disperse, and Kaname approaches Yuuki.

"Are you alright?"

"Kaname, they wouldn't have come here only for Zero-" Yuuki dismisses the inquiry in her quest for information and watches as his face grows solemn, his eyes sad and pained. He reaches out as though to touch her head or face and she flinches back slightly before she can help it.

He recoils immediately, eyes shuttering somewhat.

"What are your intentions, Kuran Kaname?" Zero asks, stepping slightly forward to wrap long fingers around Yuuki's wrist as though to offer comfort.

"I... Overlooked something, that's all," Kaname answers withiut looking away from Yuuki's face. "You should go and report this to the Chairman. I will report in, as well," Kaname tells them before turning away to go to Takuma, who had waited behind for him.

Yuuki glances down and notices that she hadn't collapsed Artemis with a little surprise.

* * *

"Yuuki? Where's Zero?" Cross asks her from behind his office desk. Yuuki sees his eyes lingering on the door, though, so she knows that he is only asking to ask.

"In the hallway. Cross, did you know about what the vampire Senate decided?" She doesn't wait for his answer before continuing. "A little while ago, a group of vampire assassins converged on Zero and I, and told us that Zero has been blamed for the death of Hio Shizuka, and is sentenced to be executed. But then the Night Class and Kaname came, and Kaname used his influence to send them away," she summarizes as Cross' eyes meet her own once more.

"That's... very serious. Thank you for telling me, Yuuki, and thank you for your efforts." Cross stands and circles the desk to stand in front of her. "Sorry, though, it must have been an extremely difficult sitiation you were forced into, wasn't it?"

"Cross," Yuuki slides away from the hand that lands atop her head and looks more directly into Cross' eyes. "Kaname took a stand today. What can you tell me about what's going on?"

"The truth is, Kaname-kun had reported what happened to me a little while before you came in." Cross' words send a jolt of surprise and alarm through Yuuki. _Kaname was just here? And we didn't see him?_ "From the time that Hio Shizuka hijacked Maria-san's consciousness, until what happened today, everything was business as usual, so this was unexpected. After all, Maria-san has been in the Moon Dormitory medical office since Shizuka left her body."

Yuuki has two simultaneous thought processes. The first being that she can't believe she forgot about Kurenai, and the second being _how much does he know? What did Zero tell him?_

"Kaname's actions may have suggested that he was supporting Zero, but this gentleness may backfire, and may very well be seen by the Senate as an act of open opposition."

_An act of oppositon... In support of Zero? But..._"Even though you might not see me as dependable as Kaname-kun, I don't intend to stay quiet about this, okay? Though, where Zero's brother disappeared to is also a matter of worry..."

_But... Kaname never said "Zero is innocent" to those assassins, did h_e?

* * *

"Hey, Zero," Yuuki pipes up as they make their way out of the faculty building. He glances over at her with a questioning hum. "Your chest- the wounds from Ichiru and Shizuka, are they healing?"Zero doesn't react or respond for awhile as they continue down the path.

"I'm fine," he says eventually. Yuuki shoots him a deeply dubious look with furrowed brows, and he reaches over to press a palm against her face, pushing and knocking her slightly off balance before letting go. "I'm healing, it's _fine."_

"But they're healing slowly, right? Have you been taking the tablets correctly?" What little of Zero's expression she can see twists somewhat.

"I have." She wants to ask about that expressionon his face but, somehow, she doesn't believe that he'll answer her, right now. And besides that, he speaks before she can. "We should get back to patrols-"

"Zero!" She interrupts before he can leave. He jerks a little. "We need to talk, okay? After patrols?" He studies her a second before huffing.

"Alright."


	25. Thirteenth Night

**A few of you brought up my decision to make Yuuki a level C vampire- let me explain that.**

**So, what influences my decision there is that it was explained to me that the spell to make Yuuki be human was specifically broken by Kaname, and that it might have been that a Kuran was necessary to make sure Yuuki would be a pureblood again. That makes sense to me, and for plot reasons and to avoid Yuuki being either overpowered or overwhelmed by too much at once, I've decided to use that.**

**And, anyways, I can't see Juri using a spell that can be completely broken by just any pureblood. Leaving it open for Rido to potentially break is a weird idea but just any pureblood? Unlikely.**

**I can see that a few of you are upset with me over that decision, but try not to be too upset with me? I can't exactly answer all of you directly because it will give too much away (and I can't direct reply to reviews on mobile).**

**Thanks, everyone who had positive things to say! It means a lot to me, especially with my updating habits lately...**

**As a heads up, Zero cusses in this chapter. It's, like, one time but it's there.** **And since Yuuki kickstarted some of my personality traits she's gonna seem a kind of out of the ****character I've developed for her, I think, for a little while at least. That'll settle eventually probably but here ya go, this is my attempt at this chapter (it isn't what I wanted, length wise, but it's all I've got for now and withholding it any longer is pointless). The next chapter will have some canon in it, so that'll probably be written faster, but I don't know how long it will take.**

**I've got a lot on my plate right now, and doing a lot at one time is hard. I have a few other things up on my profile now, though, because it's a little nice to spread myself out instead of stressing on this one thing. I'll do my best to keep working on this, though! I won't give up!**

* * *

Pacing around the living room of the Cross personal home, sweater tossed aside, Yuuki can't help her worry as Zero takes longer than she'd expected to finish his patrols. She's already searched the house for Cross and found him absent, and Zero and she had long since discovered the soundproof nature of the home when all the doors were securely closed.

She's... honestly kind of nervous to have an involved conversation with Zero, after everything that'd happened the other night. Yuuki's pretty sure they'd both been in shock at the time, and he'd told her that he was fine about her actully being a vampire before, but she hasn't really explained anything to Zero, yet. Obviously he knew _something, _as Cross had received a report and she doubts that it'd come from Kaname, but it hadn't come _from her _and that was what was important.

Though... she's not really sure what she'll do if Zero shuts her out because of her admittedly stupid and impulsive decision with Shizuka and her own life. She doesn't _regret_ it, and there hadn't been _time_ to do anything else, but... she's worried. What is she going to tell him, anyway? She has to tell him _something_.

"Yuuki," the voice is jarring and she jerks to a stop, a faint feeling on her bicep telling her that Zero had tried to stop her pacing before he'd spoken up and she'd either ignored him or brushed him off. Shs looks over and meets his vaguely wary and concerned eyes ffom where he'd backed a few feet away from her. "Are you alright?"

"I... Yeah, I guess. Did patrols-" Zero interrupts her, apparently satisfied with her answer, though his eyes are narrowed with something not unlike suspicion.

_"I even left some for you," _Zero says in a carefully blank tone. "That's what Kuran told me. He explained himself pretty well, but can you explain, too?" His tone isn't _really_ questioning, but she has the sense that he'd allow her to avoid this conversation a little longer if she isn't ready yet.

She can't, though. She needs to explain herself, and not leave her brother in the dark, because this is _important and she won't let Kaname be the one to explain anything to him._

"I saw him attack her- Kaname, I mean. Attack Shizuka. So did Aidou, actually, but- I- when I went in to see if I could try to keep her alive long enough for you to- she wouldn't have made it. Kaname made sure of that- he tore out her heart." Zero inhales sharply, pupils flexing. "I- I... panicked. Her blood was evaporating and would disappear after she died, and I didn't- didn't know what to do."

She's starting to speak quickly, so she stops to inhale and calm down, ordering events in her head to explain them more coherently.

"I didn't know what would happen if I drank her blood, as a human, especially because of the spell my mother put on me. But then I thought... since I wasn't naturally human- maybe I could preserve her blood in me. She agreed that it would work, but... only if you drank all my blood-"

_"Absolutely not!" _Zero interrupts again with a loud, vicious denial, eyes flaring vivid scarlet.

"- But I knew you wouldn't kill me to save yourself," she continues. "So I thought... Vampires are hard to kill, even by methods like that. So if I let Shizuka bite and change me, I could drink her blood and... be a living cure. Or at least medication, if all else failed..."

"You _moron-"_ Zero grits out in the following silence, and Yuuki's eyes fall to the floor, something hot burning behind them, reminding her of her crying fit earlier. She hears him growling and muttering under his breath but can't make out the words properly until he raises his voice. _"Don't make decisions for my benefit when they endanger you without talking to me first, you dumbass brat!"_

"I didn't have time!" Yuuki protests instantly, looking up to look at Zero defiantly. "She was going to _die _and without her blood, _you're as good as dead, aren't you?!" _Her voice hits an uncomfortable pitch and she inhales before continuing, ignoring his stunned look. _"I won't just stand aside and let you die!"_

There's a tightness in her chest and behind her eyes, and she knows that if she doesn't _calm down_ she's going to start dragging loads of petty things up into an argument or burst into tears. Which wouldn't be fair to Zero, because he's only worried and stressed and she's the one in the wrong here, right? It had been _her _stupid and impulsive decision, and she'd used him as an excuse for it.

_But... she can't just let Zero _die.

She sniffs a little and looks away from Zero's twisted and pained expression, lifting her hands to press against her cheeks. Somewhere in the back of her emotions she can feel something foreign and painful unfurling like an invasive plant and she ignores it, not knowing what else to do.

"Yuuki," Zero's voice is low and strained and before she can look up, she's receiving her second hug from Zero for the day. She can't manage to bring her arms up around his own, which are wraped around her shoulders and waist tightly like steel bands, but she manages to wrap her fingers around some of his shirt beneath his ribs. "Don't make sacrifices for me, okay? _Moron."_

"Shut up," she grumbles, that terrible suffocating feeling disappearing just as fast as it had appeared. She wiggles a little and Zero gets the message, letting her go, and Yuuki drops to sit on the floor of the living room without preamble. Zero blinks at her, surprised and confused, before she waves him down as well. "We really need to talk," she answers his quiet question, and he sits with little more prompting, managing to do it more neatly and maturely that her limp-noodle drop.

"About what?"

"Easier things first; I remember being a pureblood vampire, but I don't think I'm one now," she explains as nonchalantly as she can manage before her eyes flick around the room. There's nothing she can see that's off, and she doesn't have that familiar crawling feeling when someone she dislikes or doesn't trust is watching her, so she continues on. Explaining first what little family information she can remember, and then what she can remember of being sealed away.

"That's what I remember, but there's something off, now. I'm too big and somehow too small now, it's messing with my balance. You remember how I stumbled."

Zero doesn't say anything and she continues.

"We need to spar. A lot. Because I can still fight, but my brain is being weird…" Looking at Zero's face, Yuuki feels some unease. "Zero?" He doesn't respond, simply looking at her with a face she doesn't understand, and she shifts a little in place, trying again. "Zero, hey. Are you listening? What's wrong?"

"This is a lot to take in," he finally says in a blank tone of voice. "Can we… talk about the rest some other time?" He questions, and Yuuki feels a little embarrassed and dumb. _Of course_ it's a lot to take in, why did she just expect he'd be able to roll with everything? _She_ hadn't been, she'd freaked out _badly_. Just because it wasn't him personally dealing with everything didn't mean it wasn't a lot to deal with.

"Yeah, that's fine," she nods with a small, understanding smile, masking her more negative emotions beneath that. "Sorry for dropping everything on you all at once like that. We can talk more tomorrow, maybe?"

"Maybe," he nods and climbs to his feet. "I'm going to go lay down." She watches him go quietly from where she's sitting on the floor before getting to her own feet as well and walking to her room. She doesn't feel tired, but she doesn't really want to just sit in the open, so her room it is. Zero needs his own space, and she won't bother him just because she doesn't want to be alone.

Looking over at her desk as she flicks on her light, she catches sight of the books she'd borrowed from Cross awhile back and decides that now is as good a time as any to do some of the research she'd been meaning to do for awhile now. She'd just kept pushing it off, but there's nothing stopping her now.

Sitting down to begin to pull one over to look through it, Yuuki sighs, looking over the complicated first few pages.

Maybe she'd overestimated her ability to understand these...

* * *

Yuuki wakes up with a start, a painful feeling in her chest and a stab of fear, unable to understand what woke her as she sits up from where she'd been laying her head on the desk, looking around wildly. Her window is closed and the curtains pulled, her bedroom door closed, the light still on. Her eyes linger on the darkness beneath her bed, and with some hesitance that she feels stupid for, she slides out of her chair and kneels down on the floor, looking beneath the bed carefully.

Like she knew, there's nothing, but she feels a little better now that she's checked. Still, though, she feels terrified and unsettled. Straightening to a stand, Yuuki checks herself over before changing into her pajamas and then grabbing both of her weapons. She checks the gun, making sure there's a bullet in the chamber, a loaded cartridge in place before also making sure the safety is on. She holds onto both things before grabbing one of the books off the desk that she hadn't managed to look over.

The book still open on the desk shows a demonic depiction of some archaic vampire, it's face twisted up and blood flowing down it's lips, chin and exposed chest, a human man dead at its feet and a broken collar dangling from one of it's clawed hands. Yuuki looks away from that, knocking the book closed and kind of regretting looking into vampiric history- it was a vampire hunter book, it was bound to be biased somehow.

The book in her hands is about ex-human vampires, supposedly, and while she's not expecting it to be a much nicer read, she's hoping it will help her understand what's going on with her and Zero, though Zero is more of a priority than she, herself. She has time, and he… doesn't.

Making her way into the kitchen, she drops her stuff off on the counter and then pulls out a pan to heat up some water, wanting some hot chocolate to drink. She doesn't bother turning on the kitchen light, not really feeling the need as her eyes adjust to the darkness and she pulls the book over onto her lap, pulling it open.

She can't read very well in the level of light available to her, which is annoying, but when she pulls the book closer to her face it becomes easier. With a sigh, though, she figures that she's going to need the lights on after all, but the longer she sits in the dark, somehow the safer she feels. She hops down from the counter and walked over to flip on the kitchen light, jerking in place when doing so reveals Zero standing in the kitchen doorway.

The breath she'd caught in her throat rebels and she hacks, bending down as her throat constricts and she tries to breathe. She feels a little light headed and feels Zero's hand pat against her back, trying to help her jog her breathing into its proper rhythm.

Eventually she manages to recover, and she steps back away from Zero, not looking at him as she walks back towards the counter, dropping one hand onto the book there and hesitating to lift it or draw too much attention to it, instead looking over at the pot on the stove.

"What are you doing awake, Zero?" She eventually questions. "It's late. Did you have a bad dream?"

"You're one to talk, Yuuki," Zero answers, dodging her question with apparent ease. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"I guess," she shrugs and watches as the water on the stove begins to boil, bubbling ever so gently. It's the right time to pull it off for her drink, but she doesn't want to lift her arm from the book and expose it to Zero.

She realizes what she's doing with a tiny jolt- why is she trying to hide the book from Zero? She hadn't even noticed she was hiding it until she realized she didn't have an excuse to do so, anymore. With a swift shake of her head, Yuuki lifts her arm from the book and rounds the counter to grab her mug down from a cabinet, along with the hot chocolate mix. Flicking aside her eyes, she meets Zero's own.

"Do you want some hot chocolate?" She offers, hand hesitating in grabbing a second mug down. He doesn't reply for a minute before nodding.

"Sure," he shrugs a little before leaning against the counter, his eyes drifting aside and undoubtedly spotting her book and weapons on the counter as she pulls down the second mug, setting it on the counter and beginning to distribute the coco powder. "Going to do some late night reading?"

"... I planned on it. It might do some good, maybe," she shrugs herself a little, carefully measuring out the amount of powder in each cup to the amount of water she has ready to pour, carefully fishing out the marshmallows from Zero's own, remembering that he hates them.

Dropping them into her own cup and then grabbing the pan, she ignored the heat coming off the metal and begins to gently pour in the boiling water, setting it on the counter before turning to fish out spoons.

"What's that book about?" Zero asks, though he doesn't sound particularly interested in her answer, still watching her with that look she isn't able to understand and avoids meeting for too long.

"Um... Ex-human vampires. It was written by the Vampire Hunters Association, so I don't know how good it will be to read it, but I borrowed it from Cross' study a while back to look through," she admits after a pause, one hand hesitating over the spoons before grabbing two of them out, setting them into the mugs and stirring a little bit before offering Zero's to him, holding her own mug close to her chest.

_It's warm…_

Yuuki kind of doesn't want to actually drink it, now that she's got it. It's too hot to actually drink right now, either way, as she doesn't really want to be burned, but suddenly the thought of drinking it at all seems nauseating. Her fingertips feel like they're burning, as well as her palms, but she ignores that as she watches Zero set his mug off to the side to cool, steam wafting from it.

"Yuuki," Zero's voice is calm and serious, and her eyes meet his with a start. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Her lips twitch into a smile without her deciding to make them do so, but she feels just as tired and bland as she did seconds ago. "I'm fine, don't worry." At his continued silence and lingering stare, her face goes completely still before she forces the smile down, trying to answer him more honestly. "I feel alright, just… Unsettled. Nothing terrible, really."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Promise." She can taste ash on her tongue, something sour in the back of her throat, and so she takes a drink of scalding hot coco to get rid of it. It doesn't really help, and Zero looks away from her, picking up his mug to blow on it a little before taking a drink. She looks away from him.


	26. Fourteenth Night

**This chapter is ridiculously short, I know, but anything else I tried to add or any filler I tried to do just would not work, which is why this is all there is. I tried, but I just couldn't do it. In other news, I have the Fifteenth Night in the works already, if that's any comfort.**

**Thanks for being patient with me, I hope you continue to be so. I'm pretty burned out lately, and getting up the want to write is hard. I'm doing my best, though.**

**I'm not in the best place right now, so Yuuki's characterization might be off in places. She's meant to be gaining some personality traits carried over from her past life, which makes them my personality traits, so I did my best to incorporate them realistically, but please let me know if it comes off as clunky or bad or whatever, and I can go through to try and fix them.**

* * *

_"Yoriii,"_ Yuuki whined, draped over Yori's shoulders as her best friend packs her suitcase for break._ "Don't leave meee,"_ she complains, pressing her nose and lips against Yori's shoulder, which is bared by the tank top she's wearing.

"The next break isn't for _months_, Yuuki, and my dad is looking forward to seeing me. It's last minute, but I want to go see him. I'll be back in a week," Yori reaches up to pat Yuuki's head, and she pouts.

The break really _was_ spontaneous. Yuuki, herself, isn't really 100% sure why they're getting a break except that over half of the Night Class is going to be going off campus, as well as their teachers. Cross had said something about "fairness", but she didn't really get the point and whenever she'd tried to ask, he'd avoided answering her.

Which wasn't all that surprising, what with her lost faith in the man, but still stung regardless.

"Yeah, yeah," Yuuki mumbles sulkily. Yori huffs a little and wiggles a shoulder, jarring Yuuki's head off her shoulder before turning around, wrapping her arms around Yuuki's shoulders in a tight hug that lasts a while, Yuuki lifting her arms and wrapping them around her friend in return, feeling better for the contact.

"Yuuki," Yori's voice is serious, though not angry. "I need to finish packing, and you're being very unhelpful. Please stop getting in my way."

"... Alright," Yuuki nods against Yori's head, and when she's released she backs up to sit on her long unused dormitory bed, pulling her legs up to press against her torso and resting her head on her knees, watching Yori turn back to her packing.

"Do you want to explain what's been going on this last week?" Yori questions idly, folding a sweater up and placing it in the case. Yuuki purses her lips and looks away, turning her attention to the dorm room wall.

She's been avoiding Zero, sleeping in the dorm, getting clingy with her best friend at any opportunity as her tiredness mounts from nightmares constantly interrupting her sleep. Thankfully she's not yet had any problems with bloodlust or sunlight sensitivity, though her senses are sharpening up. In times when she wasn't able to do bother Yori, she'd taken to trying to work out, getting a new feel for her body- it'd been difficult in class, but Zero'd been skipping classes lately and she'd just taken to trying to take as many comprehensive notes as she possibly could. The teachers had been suspicious, but kept their silence.

Zero'd been avoiding her too, to be fair, but neither of them were being very discreet and people had noticed. Yori among them.

"Not… Really," Yuuki admits after awhile. "Not that I can cover in the next couple of minutes while you pack, at least," she shakes her head as Yori glances over. "I want to tell you, but it's a long story, and I don't know how to explain it right now. Plus, I don't want the chance of anyone overhearing us talk."

Talking to Yori might actually be the best thing she can do. She's hardly been spending much time with her best friend lately, and she should rectify that. Explaining an edited version of what's going on in her life could be helpful to the both of them.

But that would have to wait until she's actually able to verbalize what's going on.

"It's just hard, right now," Yuuki murmurs reluctantly.

"I hope you'll make up with Zero soon, Yuuki," Yori offered after awhile of silence. "You're stretching yourself pretty thin without him."

"... Me too," she mumbled, pulling her knees a little closer to herself before pushing them away and standing up as Yori finishes packing, zipping her suitcase closed. Reaching over, Yuuki snatches her best friend's suitcase and duffel bag from her grasp, slinging the bag over one shoulder. "I'll walk you to the gates, alright?"

"I can carry my own things," Yori comments, though she doesn't try to take them from Yuuki as they walk out of the room.

"Yeah, but I want an excuse to walk with you," Yuuki shrugs.

"You don't need an excuse," her friend protests sincerely, and Yuuki doesn't look over at her despite that she can feel Yori's eyes on the side of her face.

"Do you have any plans with your dad over break?" Yuuki asks after a minute, changing the subject.

Yori allows it without comment. "I don't know, he didn't mention anything specific. Are you going to say _hi_ to him?"

"If he's there when we get there, sure," Yuuki offers like she's not apprehensive about meeting her best friend's dad. She hasn't done so before- hasn't ever met any parents other than Ichijou Asato, which had been unpleasant, and her own "father", as well as her own parents, but those last three didn't count.

"Are you going to wait at the gate with me if he isn't?"

"If I can, I don't have any problem with it. But if people start getting rowdy, I might have to leave. And I'm supposed to supervise some things with the male Sun Dorms at around noon, so I won't be able to stay very long, either way."

"The boy's dorms? Isn't that Zero's job?"

"Usually, but he didn't show up to the meeting about it, so I'm going to go there anyway, just in case. The girl's dorms aren't going to get anything done until around noon, so I've technically got time to do both."

Mostly, she's going to have to supervise janitors. The dorms get skim-cleaned every weekend, and normally the students can keep spaces clean, but since there's going to be a week-long break, Cross is using the opportunity to get some deep cleans done. Especially in the bathrooms and common areas.

"How tiring," Yori murmurs in acceptance, walking a little faster to walk next to Yuuki rather than slightly behind and to the side like she'd been before.

* * *

Shifting in place as she watches the janitors leave the area, Yuuki shifts her eyes to look back towards the dorms, having the feeling of being watched. Some part of her suggests that it's Zero, but she dismissed that to hope and turns her attention to the side instead as she hears someone call her.

"Cross-san, why are you still over here?"

"Ah, dorm leader?" Yuuki asks, turning her attention to the side to spot the girl approaching, the girl holding a clipboard close to her chest and dressed casually, rather than in her uniform, which is just a little strange to see.

"Ah, I was watching the cleaners leave," she answers, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

"Alright…" She responds, her expression twisting just a little before she turns her attention to the clipboard in her hands. "I just came to see if you're going to be supervising the cleaners for our dorm, as well? Wakaba-san mentioned to me at the gate that you were going to be here."

"Yeah, I'm going to try and head over there in a bit," she explains, "I was just waiting to see if Zero would be coming out to help…"

"I see. Well, I have to tell you that you shouldn't just lurk outside of the boy's dormitory," she tells Yuuki after a pause. "It's not really allowed in the rules, and as a prefect, you should be setting an example to the rest of us."

"I understand," Yuuki nods. "I wasn't going to stay very long, but I understand."

"Sorry to interrupt," an uncomfortably familiar voice calls for their attention, and Yuuki swings her head around to see the familiar form of Aidou approaching from the left, dressed in jeans and a dark blue hoodie, looking very tired and also kind of irritated. "Could I talk to you for a second?"

"Idol-senpai!" The dorm leader's voice almost drowns out what he says next.

"I can't find the Chairman. Is he out somewhere?" Yuuki blinks in confusion.

"Did you check the main faculty office?"

"He wasn't there." Yuuki furrows her brows as the dorm leader continues talking, stepping forward towards Aidou as Yuuki thinks to herself, trying to think of where Cross might have gone.

"Why are you here? It's not easy for Day and Night classes to come and go as they please, right? Especially-"

"I'm sorry," Aidou answers in a light tone, lifting a hand up to press a finger against his lips. "I'm running away from the dorms right now. You didn't see me, alright?" _Running away?_ Yuuki frowns in confusion and watches as the dorm president falls to his charms.

"Of course I won't, I understand. I'll just leave it to the prefect!" The dorm president walks off, and Yuuki stares after her for awhile before turning her attention to Aidou, who takes a few steps in her direction before lifting a hand up to rub at the back of his neck.

"I was going to the chairman to ask about some things, but he's not here. And so, I ran away from the dorm. Basically." Yuuki hears a distant shout and looks up in time to watch a window open and watch Zero jump out of a third story window, landing on the ground in a crouch and then walking closer. Something about him makes Yuuki shift in unease, and she watches him and Aidou both carefully.

"Aidou-senpai… Students of the Night Class aren't supposed to be in the Day Class area, and you knew that already," he says in a blandly serious voice.

"Zero's right, Aidou. You should go back to the dorms. They'll be mostly empty now, anyway, and I'm sure the Headmaster will be back sometime."

"To the dorm? I don't want to," Aidou refuses coldly, looking to the side away from she and Zero both, looking thoughtful before his face pinches into something bratty. "And I absolutely won't!"

"Yuuki, if you can find a rope, we can tie him up and drag him back," Zero comments from the side, walking closer to her. Aidou twitches like he's been electrocuted before taking off at a run, and Yuuki frowns in irritation.

"Ah. He's running away," she mentions, Zero already turning on heel and running after him, both of them going as fast as possible and getting quite a distance before Yuuki comes to her senses and chases after them as well, ignoring the strange looks the action garners her.

Soon enough, they manage to catch Aidou, Zero having to bodily tackle the surprisingly slippery vampire before they manage to do so with any real success. Yuuki wiggles her hands in between he and Zero, seizing onto his wrists and then nodding to Zero to get up, twisting Aidou's arms and pulling on them until he's forced to kneel, and then stand, or else risk wrenching or even breaking one or both of his arms.

"Should we just take him to the dorms now and be done with it?" Yuuki asks Zero, ignoring the immediate, loud protest of her captive as Zero grabs his resisting arms from her. Aidou, smartly, stops trying to wrench them free, because Zero wouldn't hesitate to wrench them to make a point.

"He'd probably escape again," Zero refuses before looking over at Aidou, who's sulking. "_Don't_ make me run for something so stupid again."

"You should have helped me escape the dorm in the first place," he huffs, but Yuuki ignores him, continuing to watch Zero.

"We're going to have to babysit him, huh?" She asks. "Why not go to the house, and keep him there until Cross comes back and sorts him out?"

"I'm _hungry…"_ Aidou whines, then yelps when Zero tightens his hands around his wrists sharply, making him fall silent.

"Seems like we're going to have to," Zero sighs before kicking the back of Aidou's foot. "Let's go."

* * *

_"Huungry,"_ Aidou complains from on the couch, draped over it like he's a suffering noblewoman. "Make me some food," he demands, then. Yuuki scowls at him, and he sits up, crossing his legs and waving a hand. "Will there be an empty bed in the morning? I want something nice and soft.. If the linens don't smell like lavender, though, I can't sleep… If someone tries to find me, _don't tell them I'm here._ And, let's see… I need a toothbrush and a towel…"

Yuuki reaches out to grab a hold of Zero, keeping him from striking out at Aidou despite the fact that she _really wants to_, as well.

"Aidou, is there a _reason_ you're running away from the dorm and acting so difficult?"

"... It's nothing." A foul temper writhes up from the bottom of her stomach and chest, irritation wanting her to lash out, and Yuuki pushes that down. That's irrational and for all that she hates Aidou, for all that she really does not want him to be here, Aidou doesn't really deserve to have Yuuki lashing out with potentially fatal force because she's throwing a temper tantrum.

Yuuki turns on heel, and hears Aidou demanding to be fed some more. Her face twitches beyond her control, and a smile blooms across her face, sickening sweet at she turns to look Aidou dead in the face, her face a picture of innocent, cheerful submission.

"_I'll_ make you something, then."

"Yuuki, no," Zero interrupts as she enters the kitchen, trailing along quickly behind_._ "You are_ not allowed to cook."_

"Well, if he doesn't get _something_, then he's just going to get more and more annoying," Yuuki complains, crossing her arms and leaning against the side of the counter. There's a bubbling anger in the pit of her stomach that she doesn't understand, that she won't let loose because that's a wild sort of feeling and she knows that it's dangerous. So she ignores it, and it sits in her stomach, not growing any larger or hotter, seemingly content to just sit there and be ready to explode at the slightest jostling. "And we can't _kill him_… People saw him with us." She's a little surprised at the words after they're out of her mouth, and she pauses, one hand uncrossing to lift and press her fingertips against her lips and chin.

_Where did that come from?_ She can't remember ever saying something so cynical before.

"Then I'll make something," Zero responds, gruff and irritated, but resigned as well; she sees him visibly deciding not to comment on that last thing she'd said, though it earns her a sideways look. She doesn't blame him for that, though. If she could, she's be giving _herself_ a side-eye.

"Really?" Yuuki blinks at Zero, honestly surprised he's willing to do anything for Aidou beyond put a bullet in him, and he rolls his eyes with a huff.

"Yeah. You're going to help, though."

Yuuki can feel Aidou's eyes on her and Zero through the kitchen doorway, and pointedly does not look in his direction, turning and lowering her hands.

"That's fine. I don't want to go back there, anyway."

* * *

Staring with a deadpan expression at Aidou as he primly pats his mouth clean with his cloth napkin and pushes his _fourth_ empty plate away from him across the table, silverware resting atop it, Yuuki can't help her taunt.

"I thought you weren't going to eat anything Zero made, hm?"

"Ah… It wasn't like it's not to my tastes. It's okay, I guess," he comments before dropping the napkin to the table and looking away from her to the side, back towards the kitchen as Yuuki grabs his plate up. "But that wasn't enough."

_What a selfish runaway brat-_ Yuuki inhales slowly to calm herself down.

"You look troubled," Aidou's bland voice pipes up, and Yuuki twitches irritatedly.

"I am," she can't quite get control of herself in time, "but that's fine, _because you're going to pay me back for this even if I have to get Kaname to make you."_ His face closes off, and Yuuki belatedly remembers that Aidou had seen Kaname kill Hiou that night, and likely has more reason than she to be unsettled by it, maybe even afraid. That's not much of an excuse, though.

Yuuki turns with dishes in hand back towards the kitchen, and when she does so, she sees Zero rinsing off the pan in the sink.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Yuuki sighs, walking closer to drop the dishes into the sink. "He wants more."

_"What?"_ Zero turns sharply, eyes wide and expression altogether incredulous. "He's eaten enough for eight people and he still wants more?"

"I think he's stress eating," Yuuki confides as she rinses the dishes off, and Zero fishes in his pockets before pulling out his rattling tablet case and handing it over to her.

"Give him a tablet, maybe that will tide him over until the next thing it done," Zero sighs, and Yuuki stares at his back quietly for a minute. He must feel her eyes on him, because a moment later, he asks, "what?"

"Are you sure? I could make him something, and he'll definitely stop bothering us," she offers.

"What happened to not killing him in the house?" Zero quips before shrugging, still not looking over at her. "It's fine, though. It isn't like I hate cooking." Yuuki hesitates before turning to leave, but she hears several quick steps over the floor behind her before a hand grasps onto her shoulder, turning her in place to she's looking into Zero's face.

"What?" She asks, holding the tablets close to her chest as her other hand wraps around them as well.

"If there's something you want to say, then just say it," he commands in a calm tone.

"... Are you okay, so far?" She asks after a pause. "Despite that I-"

"I'm fine," he reassures her, but that sour taste in her mouth doesn't go away. "I'm making my own choices, remember? So," he raises a palm to cover her eyes, though he does so poorly, revealing to her eyes the soft expression on the lower half of his face, "don't give me that look." There's a flood of emotions that Yuuki ignores, forcing her burning eyes to stop what they're doing and stepping back away from Zero's hand, offering him a pained look before she turns, fleeing the room to return to the dining room, where Aidou waits.

"That took too long," he complains childishly, arms crossed over his chest. She suppresses a full-body jerk and flings the rattling tablet case at his head. Irritatingly, he catches it just fine, and looks it over with distant curiosity.

"Blood tablets. Have one before you start complaining again, Zero is making you more food," she commands flatly.

"Are these tablets Kiryuu's?" He asks after a moment of study. Yuuki twitches in agitation, half a thought going to denying it, because who says she can't carry blood tablets for emergency purposes? But he continues before she can put her foot in her mouth. "Don't be upset. Kiryuu knows that I know. Since I'm a genius, it's only natural that I know, after all."

_There's so much I could say to that._

"And you're not going to say anything?" She decides to ask, though it's a pointless question. Any student who doesn't already know about Zero's condition doesn't even believe in vampires, at this point, he's not exactly good at hiding it.

"I'm not that cowardly, Cross Yuuki," Aidou says, expression twisting strangely as he avoids looking her in the face. "Anyway, Kaname-sams knows and he's keeping quiet about it, right? Though…" His expression twists just a little more, turning sad, "I don't know what Kaname-sama is thinking, lately…"

"Aidou-"

"Why does he treat a girl like you so specially? Even purposely going against the Senate for you… I can't understand it."

_You're _such_ a genius, are you?_ Yuuki can't help but think a little spitefully. _Such a scorned brat, refusing to see what's right in front of him because he's upset._

"Who knows, I guess," she offers with a shrug, arms crossing over her chest as one hand grabs the opposite elbow.

"Are you really saying that?" Aidou asks in a bland tone, a nearly visible miasma of irritation wafting from him, "I'll kill you." Studying him for a moment as he glares at her, trying to intimidate some kind of explanation from her, maybe, Yuuki decides to throw him a bone.

"In my earliest memories," the lie is small but sour on her tongue, not that it would have been a lie even a week ago, "there are two vampires. The first was a vampire that took me by the head, and was going to kill me after he'd gotten what he'd wanted. The second was Kaname, who killed him for touching me, and then picked me up with blood stained hands, and took me to safety. I don't… Really get why he treats me the way he does, but that's where everything starts, for me. It's simple, mostly."

"Simple, huh?" Aidou leans forward, dropping an elbow onto the table and then his chin into his palm. "Simple," he repeats in a musing tone, looking away from her again., "that's what you'll believe, no matter what happens? That it's that simple?"

"It's what I'd prefer," she responds after an uncertain second as Zero walks into the room holding another plate, both of their expressions bland. Aidou looks up to Zero as he sets the plate down.

"This is where I stop feeding you. When you're done, let me know, and I'll take you to the guest room. Yuuki," he turns purple eyes on her and she doesn't flinch at the lack of emotion in them, despite that something in her chest twists painfully. "You can go to your room, if you want," he tells her as he sits down at the table, opposite of Aidou.

"Ah, no, I'm okay. I'll go and do the dishes, though," she comments, turning on heel and walking into the kitchen. She can't hear anything from the dining room as she pulls the dishes out of the sink in order to plug the drain and then runs hot water into the sink, steam rising up into her face as she pours soap in, setting the dishes inside soon after.

It's as she's setting the dishes out to dry that Zero walks back into the kitchen carrying the last of the dishes. She turns from where she'd been about to empty the sink, spotting the dishes and reaching out to accept them.

They enter her hands just fine, but as she turns, something happens with her feet the last second, and one of the bowls slides off the side of the tilted plate, careening downward. She reaches out as fast as she can with one hand full, but ends up spiking the bowl into the ground with even more force, sending the white porcelain shattering across the tile.

Staring at the glass, her eyes track to her bare feet in the middle of the mess, then the sink a few steps away, and then the plate in her hands before looking back at the bowl shards.

"Zero, if I move, my feet will be ribbons," she says in a calm way she doesn't really feel. Off to the side, he sighs in an aggravated way.

"Stay there," he commands before turning, walking from the room and coming back a minute later with house slippers on his feet, another pair in his hand as well as a broom. "I couldn't find the dustpan," he comments as he puts the broom on the counter along with her slippers and then walks closer, carefully shifting the bigger porcelain shards out of the way before grabbing her beneath the armpits, lifting her off the ground, taking some steps back, and then depositing her on the ground in a safer area.

She grabs her slippers and slips them onto her feet before snatching the broom before he can grab it, pushing the dishes in her hands off onto him in the process.

"I'll sweep this up, it's my mess, after all. You can wash these, my hands feel like softened raisins from all the other washing," she complains before turning to do just that, broom ready. He watches her for awhile before huffing and circling the shards to get to the sink, dishes in hand.

Clean up goes smoothly until one of the smaller pieces is revealed to have somehow stuck to the ground, so Yuuki kneels down to pick at it with her nails, trying to dislodge it while carefully making sure it can't get free then fly into her eye. She doesn't manage to get it free before it slices deeply across the tip of her pointer finger, drawing a hiss from her as she wrenches her hand away and pokes the finger into her mouth irritably, glaring at the glass which is now free, but is also covered liberally in her blood.

There's the sound of silverware clattering slightly above her, and Yuuki's eyes dart up to see Zero having frozen completely still where he's drying the dishes, the drain rumbling and suctioning the the background as deliberately breathes slowly and then turns.

"Don't just manhandle broken glass, you moron," he comments in a flat tone, eyeing her hand still in her mouth with something like fond resignation. "I swear…"

"It isn't my fault," she protests his tone, pulling her still bleeding finger from her mouth to glare at him and speak clearly. Blood slides down the side of the digit quickly enough, and she sees a flicker of red in Zero's eyes before it's pushed down. She frowns and circles around the counter until she reaches the paper towels. Wrapping her finger in one, she turns to look at Zero, who's looking away from her now.

"Does Aidou still have your tablets?" She asks leadingly. He shakes his head and reaches into his pocket to grab out his case, opening it before pausing and glancing in her direction. She quirks an eyebrow as she folds her injured hand into a fist to give her finger pressure. He rolls his eyes before reaching into a cabinet, pulling a cup down, and then walking to the sink. As he does so, she makes her way back to the broom, beginning to sweep again, moving the glass to the corner of the kitchen so it's out of the way.

"We'll have to mop the kitchen soon," she comments as she shepards all the glass away. "I don't know if I got all of the glass. And also find the dustpan," she finishes, eyeing the pile before crouching down, reaching out with her uninjured hand to carefully pluck the biggest pieces of porcelain out and drop them into her other palm.

"Are you- _Yuuki_," Zero grits out, grabbing onto the back of her sweater and hauling her literally into the air and carrying her bodily away from the glass. "Leave the glass _alone."_

"But I won't get cut on the bigger pieces," she protests, carefully not clutching tightly onto the glass in her hand as she almost does reflexively. She does not want to slice open her palm, thanks.

"Leave it _alone, Yuuki,"_ he repeats. She huffs a little and rolls her eyes.

"I still have glass in my hand, you know. I need to throw it out," she notes blandly. He jolts her a little and then sets her down near the trash can, as far from the glass corner as possible, apparently, and stares at her expectantly.

"Stay away from the glass," he says a final time before giving her a warning look and turning away from her, walking towards the kitchen sink. She rolls her eyes, rotating the glass in her hands for a moment, thoughtfully, before dropping the glass into the trash can. She then looks up to stare at Zero's back quietly, wanting to talk, to try and offer some sort of white flag, because how they're acting right now around each other hurts, but she says nothing.

Their privacy is not guaranteed, after all. She doesn't want Aidou to eavesdrop and hear something he's not meant to.


	27. Fifteenth Night

**I have to say, I'm sorry that this took so long. I didn't mean for it to, and this should have been published like weeks ago at least but my life is kind of busy right now. I reread some of your older reviews, though, especially some of the longer ones and they motivated me to finish this chapter off, even if it doesn't seem like a good ending to me.**

**Unmentioned** **in this chapter or the previous is that Yuuki's been training her balance and reflexes to get a handle on them again. I haven't been able to write that out, or write out a resolution to the tension between Yuuki and Zero, so it's just going to stay, I guess, until I can gloss over it or something... You can probably tell I made an attempt, here.**

**Sorry it's so short, by the way.**

* * *

Blinking sleepily at Yori as they sit together in the mess hall, Yuuki muffles a yawn into her hand and eats a little more of her cereal. Yori glances between her and Zero, who is sitting some tables away, hunched down like he's asleep, having probably been dragged to the meal by his dorm mates, but says nothing. A quiet conversation starts up nearby, and Yuuki listens in idly, not really interested, but her newly sharp hearing not really letting her comfortably ignore it.

"-are you okay?" She hears someone whisper to her left.

"-_fine_, just tired," a female voice insists, slow and raspy. Yuuki's head rolls slightly so she can see what's going on over there, and finds the students in question just as one of them sways dangerously in place, swaying out of her chair and onto the ground. Yuuki jolts upright as someone shrieks.

"What happened?" A boy asks as he instantly gets out of his seat, looking back to the girls as two get out of their chairs to crowd around the collapsed girl. Yuuki climbs out of her seat, Yori right behind her, and begins to make her way over.

"I don't know, she suddenly collapsed! Someone needs to take her to the infirmary!"

"Move away," Zero's voice calls, and people begin to back away immediately. "I'll take her to the infirmary," he tells them, bending down to collect the girl into a princess carry. Yori goes around the side of Yuuki, studying the girl as her head lolls, and Yuuki jerks in place at the purple-red marks on the girl's neck, scabs tearing and some blood flowing free. Yuuki hops the table nearest her and makes her way to be in front of Zero.

"Move, please," she calls out loudly, ushering students out of the way as Zero strides forward. She runs to catch up with Zero, trailing just behind as he makes his way to the infirmary in the faculty building some distance away from the mess hall. After they get her situated in one of the beds and brief the on-site nurse, they make their way to Cross' office, knowing that this is going to have to be reported.

"How recent were the marks, do you think?" She asks as they stride down the hallway.

"It might have been last night. It looked pretty recent." In other words, it likely happened on school grounds. So there's either a Night Class student who came back from break early and decided that they were too good to follow the rules, or one of them brought an unknown vampire back with them as a plus one.

There's always the possibility that the student brought the vampire with her, herself- that she met them on break and brought them back with her, somehow. They wouldn't know until they managed to do a wide-spread patrol and incident investigation.

"We're probably going to have to work with some of the Night Class to investigate this," she notes as they make their way into the faculty building and begin to climb the stairs. Zero makes a dismissive noise, and as they get to the needed floor and enter the hallway, they see Kaname in the hall across from them, already opening the door to Cross' office.

Ignoring the "coincidence" for now, Yuuki makes her way forward, Zero already ahead of her, and then they're in the office.

"Eh? Did something happen?" Cross asks from behind his desk, wrapped in a fur coat, instead of his typical many blankets. "All three of you in the same place is usually never any good!"

"There was an incident," Yuuki confirms. "One of the Day Class students collapsed in class just a bit ago. There's marks on her neck implying that she's been bitten by a vampire in the last 24 hours, meaning it likely happened on school grounds."

"Oh, dear," Cross murmurs worriedly. "Is she alright?"

"Zero took her to the infirmary, so if she isn't now, she will be," Yuuki reassures.

"Thank you, Kiryuu-kun!" Cross beams at Zero, who's staring darkly and silently at Kaname from her left as the vampire stands on her right. Purple eyes glance over at him before going back to Kaname.

"I'm sorry, chairman. I should have watched over the Night Class more carefully," Kaname apologizes resignedly.

"No, no," Cross waves his hands with a tentative smile, "we haven't decided if the vampire who did this is from the Night Class. You were called out by the Council of Ancients, Kaname-kun, so don't be too stressed about this, okay? We have the Guardians here to prevent such a thing from happening again." Cross gestures to Yuuki and Zero, and Yuuki tucks her arms behind her back to hide her slightly twitching fingers.

A secretary knocks on the door, and they all turn to look as the slim man enters the room after a confirmation comes from Cross. He blinks nervously at them, looking like a cornered animal wary of being rushed at any moment, but brings Cross a few pieces of paper tucked inside a manilla folder before fleeing the room. Spotting the infirmary crest on the front of the file, they all wait patiently as Cross opens the file and reads through the paperwork before speaking. Zero turns away to stare straight ahead.

"The girl who fainted from anemia doesn't remember who sucked her blood, or that her blood was even taken at all. She is apparently rather distressed with the injury on her neck, as she hadn't noticed it before now. There is little doubt that the girl's memories and mind were modified by a vampire."

"Which means that the vampires in the Night Class are suspects," Kaname notes in a low voice. "The only ones that would be able to modify memories so well would be the noble class, and the Night Class consists mostly of nobles." Kaname continues to stare at Cross. "I understand that you do not want to suspect your students, but you are too lenient at times."

A hand suddenly drops down onto her head, and Yuuki jolts, eyes widening at the familiar gesture.

"Don't worry too much about missing this," Zero's voice is calm, comforting and, she suspects, meant to be teasing. "It isn't that you're _incompetent_, it's just that this opponent is rather skilled."

"Who said anything about incompetent?" Yuuki demands, offended, turning towards Zero and lifting a hand to touch the fingers atop her head lightly, almost disbelieving that they're there. "You're implying that this is somehow on my shoulders, too! You're a guardian as well, you know? Not that you've been a very good one, lately!" She feels a little lighter than before at this little bit of levity from Zero, but then Kaname speaks up from behind them.

"Just to remind you, Kiryuu-kun is also a suspect." Zero removes the hand from her head, and the both of them turn to stare at Kaname, Yuuki feeling more than seeing Zero go rigid behind her. "You're a rare sample of a vampire hunter who has become a vampire. I wouldn't be surprised if you have any special abilities."

"I don't recall having any special abilities," Zero responds in a careful tone. Cross stands from his chair, hands planted on his desk, and Yuuki glances between Zero's wide-eyed but blank face and Kaname's neutral one, which somehow looks more cold than anything she can really remember right now.

"Really? Maybe you subconsciously attacked a human, yearning for her blood…" Yuui bristles at Kaname's leading tone, and her mouth runs away from her.

"Kaname! That's out of line!"

"It sure sounded like he thought I attacked her," Zero mutters, and Yuuki twitches, lifting a hand to point at Kaname's face.

"Do you truly think Zero would attack someone like that?!" She demands, and Kaname's expression sours in such a subtle way that if she hadn't spent so much time studying it, she wouldn't have been able to tell; his eyes turning away from her own, and his jaw flexing just slightly. Cross is saying something to the side, but she can't really hear him right now. Her back straightens and her hand lashes out to grab ahold of Zero's, grabbing onto him firmly and turning on heel.

"Yuuki-!" Cross manages to break through the blood rushing in her ears, but she ignores him.

"Our investigation starts now!" She declares, dragging Zero from the room bodily. "Don't resist, Zero, let's go-"

"Hey, Yuuki," he sounds exasperated, but she doesn't let up and he doesn't make her let go, trailing along behind her docilely.

"Come on!" She turns a little then, just before getting out of the room, looking at Kaname with a stern expression. "Until you accept that what you said just now is _complete garbage_, I won't acknowledge you at all!" She then turns away and leaves the room, feeling inexplicably relieved to have the idea of ignoring Kaname with an excuse to do so.

They're almost at the end of the hall before she releases Zero and a presence swells up behind them- Kaname, most likely. It isn't until they're a few floors away from Kaname that Zero speaks up.

"'Won't acknowledge you at all', huh?" He asks into the quiet. Yuuki avoids looking over at him, her face a little hot, though from what emotions, she can't tell.

"He cares about that sort of thing, I _know_ he does. And he's been acting harsher and harsher lately. It isn't called for," she responds. She tries to remember what she might have done before the Shizuka incident if this had happened then, but she can't. Her memories seem farther and farther away with every day that passes, not that it's such a bad thing- it's actually familiar, in a way. She remembers what she has to.

"It isn't like that's anything new," Zero says, sounding a little confused. "You'd think that you would give him a little lee-way," he comments then, voice changing into something strange. Yuuki hunches her shoulders a little.

"An accusation like that was uncalled for, and _serious_. He _can't_ just say things like that," she refuses. "You aren't the one who did it, you have yourself handled." He says nothing, and she stuffs all her negative emotions back, finding something new to focus on. Those emotions won't do her any good right now, especially because there's so many of them. They fade quickly, and she crosses her arms over her chest, finally glancing back at Zero. "Let's go talk to the victim again."

"She should still be in the infirmary," Zero offers after a moment, speeding up just enough that he over takes her completely. She huffs a little and hurries after him as they go down the hall towards the infirmary doors. Opening them, Yuuki just behind him, reveals a scene that is _very much unwelcome._

"Hm? Yuuki-chan and Kiryuu-kun," Ichijou Takuma greets them, standing up from where he'd been crouched in front of their _probably very impressionable victim_. "You came to talk to this girl, didn't you?" Something about his tone makes her uneasy even though its only friendly, if not a little overly so. Her eyes flick over the room to take in Rima and Senri near one wall, Souen and Kain out the window, Souen's leg just about inside from where she'd been climbing in.

_"None of you are supposed to be on school grounds right now,"_ Yuuki's voice is strained, she notices, and that anger comes back yet again. "You're also very much _not allowed in the infirmary, as you know!"_ The day class girl holds a bouquet of roses close to her chest, and Ichijou ignores her as he bends back down close to the girl.

"I'm sorry for asking you so much… Are you okay?" He asks the girl, and Yuuki grits her teeth as Zero stands silently next to her.

"Yes… Sorry I couldn't be of much help," she comments, blushing and earnest, a bandage visibly wrapped around her neck.

"Take care, then," Ichijou comments, smiling at her.

"Thank you for the flowers," the girl says, standing and bowing slightly at the waist with a flustered smile on her face before turning in Zero's direction. "Thanks for carrying me, Kiryuu-kun. It was... just anemia, so I'll be alright, now… I always had such a bad impression of you, but you're actually a good person," she offers with a smile before turning and leaving. Yuuki stares after her before turning attention back towards Ichijou as he speaks up. She wants to follow her, to question her, but she cannot leave these vampires unattended in the infirmary.

"She said you're a good person, Kiryuu-kun. Now if only you didn't frown so much and smiled more…"

"Good person?" Rima parrots uncertainly in the background.

"I don't know," Senri's reply is muffled into his palm.

"What are you guys doing here?" Zero asks, and Yuuki's stare flicks back to Ichijou.

"That's right, _why are you here? You're_ suspects as well, you know," Yuuki echoes, eyes sharp on all of those in her sight line. Souen finished climbing into the room, and Ichijou smiles wide enough that it closes his eyes with a small laugh.

"We are? Thanks for letting us know… But, we were sent by Dorm Leader Kaname as a detective group for Justice. Our name is…" Without opening his eyes, Ichijou turns his head aside and continues to speak, "what shall our name be?"

"I don't care," Kain answers, "I didn't even know we were a detective group."

"Anyway, we were asked by Kaname to investigate this, for our Honor."

"When. _When_ did he ask you to investigate this?" Yuuki demands, something sour in her stomach. _Kaname already knew about this? How?_

"Then you believe everyone here is innocent," Zero comments suddenly from near the door, and Ichijou laughs a little, this time sounding slightly uncomfortable.

"Probably. I _did_ call Aidou, as well, but he never showed, and we haven't seen him in awhile…"

"He's been acting strange lately, actually," Kain pipes up reluctantly from where he's leaning against the window frame, one of his hands cupping his chin.

"Yeah, and come to think of it, he does have a previous offense like this, as well…" Souen says thoughtfully, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. "Of biting someone, I mean."

"Then, is the culprit Aidou-san?" Shiki asks, leaning forward in his seat. Yuuki glances over as Zero turns to leave the room, and he waves her off. She frowns as he leaves, uncertain about remaining behind by herself but not actually able to leave the vampires in the infirmary unattended. Once he's gone, she turns back completely.

"-not him," Kain is saying, and she thinks back on the last few minutes.

"I don't actually think it's Aidou," she decides to speak up, gaining instant attention, "he was with Zero and I all of these last two days, practically." It had been a trying two days, but he'd not wandered off or stepped out of line too far, surprisingly, once they'd agreed to not take him back to the Moon Dorms. He'd not have had the chance to wander off and assault some Day Class girl last night.

"With _you_-?" Kain speaks up, staring at her with something complicated in his gaze before he cuts himself off.

"Ah, that's one worry dealt with, then!" Ichijou says in a brightly relieved tone that Yuuki can't tell the sincerity of. Yuuki eyes him for a moment and then decides to speak up as the room falls silent.

"Can you tell me what that student told you before we got here?" She asks, sitting on her anger again as she circles the vampires and heads to the nurses desk, unlocking the filing cabinet with the code she'd long since been given as a school Guardian and Prefect, flicking through the files until she finds the correct one, which is the most recent.

"Of course, Yuuki-chan! Nakamura-chan has been feeling rather faint lately, but hadn't actually noticed any soreness or injuries. She also told us that she couldn't remember how she'd gotten bitten, or if she'd met anyone rather… _draining_, lately." Eyes skimming over Nakamura Isane's recent medical file, Yuuki sees that Nakamura had reported recent troubles with headaches, faintness, memory lapses and soreness of her extremities.

Given the listed extremities, Yuuki can understand why she didn't mention it to Ichijou- her legs and thighs, as well as her torso. Yuuki's mouth pinches at the implications of all of the injuries stacked together, and her stomach twists. There's a note on the sheet saying that the bite marks are both fresh and old, meaning that they'd been repeatedly opened and reopened.

Closing the file, Yuuki puts it away and walks across the room quickly.

"I need to go. All of you, _leave_," she commands quickly, trying to shoo the vampires from the infirmary.

"Eh? What's wrong?" Ichijou asks as he resists, Souen remaining by the wall. The only ones who move to do as she asks are Shiki and Rima, but they can't actually leave, as Kain remains right where he is.

"Nakamura-san might be in danger, _I have to go!"_ She insists, shoving him with as much strength as she can manage to push into her arms. "If you continue to resist, I _will_ pull out my anti-vampire weapon, and _knock you unconscious,"_ she grits out.

"Yuuki-chan, may we come with you, in case the vampire does appear?" Ichijou asks as he finally allows himself to be pushed across the room. Souen perches herself on the window sill and allows Kain to assist her in climbing completely out, and Shiki and Rima both follow her out, though neither receive help. Yuuki herds Ichijou out the window and climbs out after him, closing the window behind her and then turning on the spot, orienting herself in place until she's pointed in the direction of the female Sun Dorms.

"_No_, go to your dorms until I come for you," she insists before taking off. A nagging feeling in the back of her head tells her that they're following her anyway, which is. _Annoying_. She can't exactly stop to make them leave, though. The safety of the students is her priority, which means she's racing against the clock, here. She'll just have to talk to Kaname about getting them better in line, eventually. Maybe.

She gets to the Sun Dorms and circles around the building, pulling the Artemis Rod out of her sleeve and internally heightening all of her senses to hyperactivity, trying to pay attention to as much at once as she can while also trying to filter out the vampires behind her. It starts to give her a headache almost immediately, which isn't all that surprising, but it does what she intends for it to do.

_Is that… Kaname?_ She frowns, rounding the final turn to come across the back of the Dorms. Yuuki's expression sours as she catches sight of nothing in sight, the scent in her nose being that of Kaname and something else just beneath. Internally, she recognizes that Kaname ramped up his scent here for some reason- _marking territory, or hiding something?_

Holding her weapon at the ready and ignoring the words of the Night Class students behind her as they try to insist that _'Kaname-sama has been here, so Nakamura-chan must be fine!',_ Yuuki circles the back of the building, looking around carefully. She searches for any sign of the vampire her intuition insists was here despite that she sees no sign of one, but finds nothing but some shoe prints in the ground and slight scratches in the stone of the building, neither of which tells her anything.

"Is everything okay, Yuuki-chan?" Ichijou asks from behind her, and she feels every hair on her body stand on end, muscles tensing up.

"There's nobody here," Souen says in a tone that sounds close to complaining as Yuuki turns sharply on heel to stare at the vampires who are around her in an arc. Senri and Rima are second closest to her, Ichijou being the only one closer to her, but they're not looking at her in the way Ichijou, Souen or Kain are. They glance at her on occasion, but don't hold her eyes or stare at her expectantly. "What's the problem?"

_"You._ You need to _leave_." Yuuki grits out in as smooth of a voice as she can manage with every muscle of her body feeling close to snapping with the tautness in them. It comes out as not-a-threat, which is good, but it does come out in a lower register than she'd expected to hear out of her own mouth.

"Eh-?" She cuts Ichijou off with a sharp horizontal move of Artemis, the move short and abrupt.

_"No._ You need to leave. _Go to your dorms."_ She manages to get out, this time her voice seeming somehow inhuman. Ichijou twitches but his eyes show confusion, Souen the same. Kain, Senri and Rima react more noticeably, though, straightening up where they're standing and eyes turning in her direction immediately.

"We probably should, actually. To… let Kaname know what we'd found out," Ichijou says after a second, looking uncomfortable despite the smile still on his face, though that quickly drops into something like concern. "Will you be okay if we leave back to our dorms?"

"I'll be _fine,"_ Yuuki returns tensely, watching as he nods and leaves, still looking uncomfortable. Souen and Kain follow him quickly enough, and Rima and Senri linger only long enough to nod their heads at her before leaving. Yuuki stares after them for a little while before searching the area once more, collapsing Artemis once more and scanning the ground and nearby brush a little more carefully than she had before.

There's signs of bone-white ash lingering on the edges of the nearby brush, still trying to float away. Yuuki frowns and reaches out to collect some between her fingers, feeling its texture and finding it familiar.

The vampire _had_ been here, but they'd been killed. Likely by Kaname.

Yuuki looks up the side of the building to see all the windows closed, most of the curtains drawn. With a sigh, she turns to leave the area, making her way back to the nurses office to make sure she'd left everything in order. She's not going to search out Kaname right now, and not by herself, at least. She doesn't trust him enough for that anymore, and besides that, she's supposed to be ignoring him for now.

* * *

Sliding the door open to the nurse's office quietly, Yuuki steps into the room carefully, eyes roaming the area. Still no sign of the nurse, but the window remains closed, at least. Eyeing the occupied bed with its curtains drawn by the back corner, Yuuki decides to give them their peace and privacy, moving to lock the window and then turning to the nurse's desk, opening the filing cabinet and making sure she hadn't wrecked it's organization system.

The file she'd pulled on Nakamura is slightly crooked in place, the papers inside visibly out of order, and she rights that before she hears something behind her, coming from the bed she'd been ignoring.

_"Yuuki-!"_ There's a clatter of noise, a rustling of blankets and she turns to see a hand through the curtain, gripping it's fabric. With dawning realization, she pushes the cabinet closed and approaches the bed, peeling the curtain back and sticking her head inside. Finding Zero in the bed isn't surprising, his eyes wide and slightly glowing, one hand reaching up to cover his face, his legs drawn up slightly. He's breathing heavily, and Yuuki imagines she can hear his heart beating loudly in his chest, and as she speaks up, his entire body shakes slightly.

"Zero? Why are you _here?"_

He stares at her with an expression she can't quite understand, his eyes wide and pupils blown out, the red in them fading quickly away. He lifts one of his hands out to her, and she doesn't hesitate to place her own into it, worried for her brother's mental state right now.

"_Yuuki_…" His fingers wrap tightly around her wrist as soon as it's in his reach, and he pulls her towards him. She doesn't resist the desperate tug, angling her body so she will be able to sit on the bed and won't just fall on top of Zero, and once she's closer to him, he lifts his arms to wrap them tightly around her. "You're alive," he whispers, almost silently, one hand pressing into the back of her head as his own face presses against the curve of her shoulder.

His hug tightens even further, and Yuuki feels like her ribs and lungs are being compressed, breathing becoming slightly more difficult than is comfortable. She doesn't say anything at first, but as his grip continues to get even tighter, she realizes she has to say something before she gets accidentally hurt.

"Zero, you're making it hard to breathe," Yuuki speaks up, slightly strained. "I'm alright to hug you, but you have to let up a little." He doesn't seem to hear her, so she tries his name again, not that that works, either. She decides to pull on his hair to move his head instead, her other arm lifting up to wiggle between them and press against his chest. "Zero, you're going to hurt me!"

That seems to do it, his head and torso obligingly moving away from her, his arms loosening but not really letting her go.

"Yuuki?" He sounds more coherent now, at least, as he blinks and looks her in the face. Yuuki releases his hair and drops her hand from his chest, holding her hands slightly out to the side, not quite sure what to do with them right now.

"Zero, are you okay?" She asks, staring into his slightly wide eyes as they become more lucid than they'd been before as the seconds progress.

"Yeah," he tells her after another moment, face hardly changing and lips hardly moving with the word. She frowns a little, studying his expression, before a small bloom of relief relaxes her face into an expression she thinks might be a smile, though she's not entirely sure.

"Ah, that's good," she sighs, deciding to drop her hands onto his shoulders, "I was worried, you know? It sounded like-" Zero lurches in place, moving forward towards her. His nose brushes around her cheek and then his head plants itself into her neck, forehead pressing into her throat and nose near her collarbone.

"I'm sorry-" Zero cuts himself off and his hands release her from their hug to grab onto her shoulders as he moves back away from her, face serious. "I had a weird dream, and I wasn't fully awake yet."

"I guessed," Yuuki admits, feeling a little out of her depth. "You were pretty surprised I was alive, so I'm guessing I died in your dream?" She asks carefully, actually kind of worried about that dream.

"... Yeah," he nods and looks away from her. "We need to talk, Yuuki."

"About what?" She asks, trying not to let her dread show, because _those_ words aren't ominous.

"Cross knows what happened to Shizuka, and he's hiding it," he reveals to her, and her heart feels like it's stopped in her chest. "He told me. In a round-about way, but he told me."

"He… knows?" Yuuki can't feel her body, her mind tumbling over itself as shock begins to set in, trying to connect dots that she can't find to one another, theories and emotions bursting into existence before fading back, sliding away from focus but not from existence. Her brain feels like it's moving too fast but also too slowly, everything coming in and out of focus at random. "Why am I not surprised?" Her voice sounds strange. Distant.

"Yuuki," Zero's voice is muffled, and Yuuki can tell she is jolted a little but she can't feel it. She doesn't- she doesn't know how to deal with this. She knows that Cross has been acting strangely lately, acting in the shadows with Kaname, and she's not truly surprised, but- she hadn't expected for him to so _blatantly endanger_ Zero for Kaname's sake. _Was_ it for Kaname? For something else?

It feels like something in her chest is shrivelling up and dying. Going foul and falling silent.

It _hurts_ to love someone who apparently has priorities that don't include Zero, and her by extension.

"Yuuki," Zero's voice is firm, but she can't move. Her thoughts are spiraling further and further into increasing unintelligible chaos. "Yuuki, can you hear me?" She tries to speak, but her throat won't move, so the sound that comes out as a strange, garbled moan. "You need to breathe, okay? I'm right here, try to calm down."

Is she breathing poorly? Why did he say-

_Cross is abandoning us? Why is he-? Cross? Father? Why?_ Her heart and head hurt and her vision goes dark with blackened static, everything coming in and out of clarity with each individual heartbeat. Something is achingly familiar about this, and it makes everything worse because she doesn't understand why and Yuuki closes her eyes, trying very hard to focus on the feeling of breathing.

Inhaling and exhaling, focusing on it with as much energy she can dedicate to doing so, helps her calm down remarkably well, but there's still a disconnect feeling that's taking up most of her attention, so she continues to try and breathe herself back into existing.

"Can you hear me?" Zero's voice prompts a jerky, barely-a-movement-at-all nod. "Just breathe, okay?" She nods again, trying to resurface from where she'd started to sink down. She hates- _hates _that she keeps breaking down when anything bad happens or comes to light, but it feels like everything is just piling and _piling and piling up, _and she feels like she hasn't had a chance to really _breathe in so long._

"I'm- I can't- I'm sorry that I keep-" she can't really get the words out, but at least she's not hyperventilating or crying.

"It's alright, Yuuki, I get it," Zero tells her, dropping a grounding hand onto her head. "You just have to keep breathing."

_Keep breathing. _She can do that.


	28. Sixteenth Night

**Here, have almost 5k of subtle canon shifting.**

**B****efore I start though, thanks, everyone who reviewed! bunnyxstar especially, that was very nice to read. That said, to that guest who i think might have given up around the ninth part, if you're still here, _why? _You obviously don't like my story. I'm writing it the way _I want to write it._**

**_I_****_ don't have to completely change my characterization of Yuuki to change the story, and I don't have to change anything drastically if I don't want to. _**

* * *

With a yawn and a stretch, Yuuki's arms go high in the air above her as she trails behind Yori through the department store. It's the weekend before the final week of school before Cross Academy lets out for break, and Yuuki would be lying if she said she knows why Yori (and the hundred or so other students) returned to the Academy at all just to take some tests and then leave again. But, anyway, Yuuki was allowed to go into town only after a promise was extracted from her that she would not harass the Ramen Stall Owner, who was threatening to get a restraining order against her.

Which was _rude_, but she'd promised, so no ramen for her.

"Thanks for coming with, Yuuki," Yori repeats for maybe the fifth time in the last hour, and Yuuki flicks an amused glance at her friend. Yori gives her another look over before turning back to the shelf of shoes they're looking over.

"It's okay, I didn't have anything planned for today, anyway," Yuuki shrugs a little and then lifts the brown paper bag hanging off one arm. "I needed to do some shopping today, too."

"I noticed," Yori acknowledges before continuing. "I have to ask, though… have you and Zero-kun worked everything out?" Yuuki can't quite hide her full body flinch. "Because you told me you wanted to talk, and at this rate, I'm going to find him and interrogate him about it," she admits. "It'd probably be fun, actually."

"I talked to him some, but I'm not sure yet," Yuuki answers. "He has something to do today and tonight, anyway. You wouldn't find him." Zero's in fact going to a hunting thing- he hadn't had time to tell her much about it and with Cross acting so suspect lately, she hadn't felt like asking him before Yori had come around and asked if she would be willing to go into town with her.

"You've also been distancing yourself from the Night Class lately. Not that it's a bad thing… Those people are… a bit scary." Yori is interrupted by a childish sniffle and a yank on Yuuki's arm.

_"Mommy…"_ Yuuki turns with slightly widened eyes, looking over to see the small child clinging onto her coat sleeve. His hair is ruffled and he's bundled into a nice, if a bit old-fashioned, coat, sniffling and sounding like he's trying not to cry too loudly, eyes creased closed.

"Is he lost?" Yori asks, walking a bit closer, and Yuuki bends slightly down to look at the boy's face.

"Did you get separated from your mommy?" Yuuki asks. The boy nods his head rapidly, sending his hair flopping and a breeze wafting into Yuuki's face. Her jaw shifts and it takes a conscious effort to not clench her teeth.

_Vampire_. Is this a hunting tactic? She can't tell if the boy is the vampire, or if the scent of vampire is just all over him.

"Please bring me back to mommy," the boy cries, and Yuuki straightens up, turning slightly in place to look at Yori.

"Yori, I'm going to go and find this boy's mother. I'm sorry I have to leave before we've finished."

"That's okay. See you later?"

"Yeah," Yuuki nods before turning back to the boy. "Did you lose your mommy close by?" There's another frantic head nod, and Yuuki sighs, feeling pretty certain that the boys mother isn't anywhere nearby at all. "If we can't find her in an hour, I'll take you to the police so the nice men can find your mommy, okay?"

"B-but-" the boy gapes and hiccups, crying almost stopping, and Yuuki glances down to see two mismatched, teary (_emotionless_) eyes peering up at her. "Y-you're gonna _leave me,_ Big Sis?"

"I'm going to have to," Yuuki tells the boy as unease and familiarity crawl up her spine with icy, trailing fingers. A sense of dread settles imposingly on her shoulders, and her eyes flick up to the sky to see that it's probably early in the afternoon. In an hour, it will still be pretty solidly daylight. "The police are good people, though, so they'll definitely help you," she reassures, bending slightly to look the boy in the face and offering him the best smile she can manage.

He sniffles and eyes her with an expression of uncertainty, though the emotion in his eyes doesn't seem to change.

"What's your name, hm? And what's your mommy look like?"

"Mommy… is very tall," the boy eventually answers, not giving her his name before going on to ramble a description of a woman who is very certainly not in this store, at least. Yuuki stares at the child for a minute before realizing very sharply that she's acting suspiciously.

"Can I pick you up?"

"I- I- okay," the boy agrees after some confused stuttering, so she kneels down and hefts the boy up, lifting him past her hips and shoulders until he rests on her shoulders, his legs dangling on either side of her chest. Her hair, pulled into a ponytail, is pushed into her skull and she pulls the tail of hair out and to the side of his body as he reflexively grips onto her head, fingers wrapping around the strands of her hair that he is able to pull up from against her head.

"Now you're tall, and you can tell me if you see your mommy anywhere, right?" Yuuki asks in as cheerful voice as she can manage, bouncing a little.

_"So tall!" _The boy gasps, sounding amazed, tears apparently forgotten, and Yuuki feels his legs flex on her shoulders and around her neck as she grips onto his ankles, letting her bag fall down to the crook of her elbow. _"I can see so far!"_

The apparent childish wonder does not get rid of the feeling that Yuuki is playing with fire, here, and is _absolutely risking her life._ There's not really anything else she can think to do, though. She'd been targeted, and either she took care of this now or someone else would be targeted. Or it had been her specifically, and avoiding this would just paint a bigger target on her back.

This close to his legs and his skin, the skin exposed due to the fact that the boy is wearing shorts, Yuuki's somewhat reduced sixth sense can confirm with confidence that the boy is a vampire.

There's a chance that this is a trick to isolate her or lead her into an isolated area, but there's also a chance that the little boy is, regardless of his species, actually lost. She doesn't know why he would be outside during the day if there wasn't some ulterior motive, but she's certainly not going to _ask_.

"Remember to let me know if you see your mommy," Yuuki reminds as she starts to walk around the aisles of the store, eyes scanning for a woman fitting the description he had given her. Tall with a fuzzy coat, short shiny hair, red eyes.

Somehow, she doubts that the woman will be anywhere in the store.

Fifteen or so minutes later they've searched the entire store and there's no sign of the woman. Yuuki is reluctant to leave the store all together with the little boy, as if the boy _did_ lose his mother in the store, she doesn't want to accidentally seem like she's kidnapping him.

"Are you sure you lost your mommy in the store, kiddo?" Yuuki asks, giving the boys calves a gentle squeeze. She doesn't get an answer for awhile as they wander up and down along the front of the store.

"I dunno," the child finally tells her. "Maybe she went outside, and I lost her then?" He asks with something like uncertainty, sounding honestly unsure. Yuuki takes a moment to inhale slowly, careful to keep her body untense, and turns away from the rest of the store, walking towards the doors.

"Maybe she's outside looking for you there, then," she says in as optimistic a tone as she is able. The hands on her head loosen around her hair, beginning to run small fingers over the strands, fingertips digging slightly into her scalp in places but thankfully not pulling on it. The legs around her neck flex just slightly, and she very pointedly does not swallow as she stops in front of the doors. "Are you too tall to fit through the door, or will you fit?" She calls up.

"Hu?" The tone is distant before the childish tone returns. "Might be too tall," he reports after a minute, and she walks closer.

"Still too tall?"

"Yep," the body bounces a little and she reaches up to settle her arms on the boy's sides, lifting him over her head and then settling him onto her hip instead.

"I'll carry you until we get outside, then I'll put you back on my shoulders, okay?" She asks, glancing aside and trying to pretend her blood isn't frozen in her veins as those heterochromia eyes study her face. She can feel his breath against the side of her exposed neck, her sweater only coming up to her collarbones.

"Your hair is very pretty," he tells her instead of acknowledging what she said as she walks out of the store. "Why do you tie it up?"

"I like to keep it out of my face," she reveals idly.

"Take it down?" The question is phrased strangely, and almost as though the request part of it is only an afterthought. She pauses, stopping on the road outside of the store with a confused look.

"Eh? Why?"

"Please?" He asks after a long pause, and she looks back down into his eyes to see something intense there that she doesn't quite understand but is unnatural in a face so young. She breathes out slowly before setting him down on the ground, reaching her hands to pull her hair out of the tail. It shouldn't hurt anything to accommodate the boy, though doing so leads to an increased risk of hair pulling.

Several chunks of hair fall into her face instantly, one falling directly along her nose, and she grumbles before tucking what she can behind her ears. The boy's eyes don't move from her face and nothing in them changes, and she looks around as she slides the hair tie onto her wrist.

Still no sign of the woman he had described. The sun is just about mid-way past noon towards night.

"I can keep looking for you mom for one more hour, and then I have to take you to the police, okay?" She tells the boy as she leans back down to look him in the face. It shifts between expressions too quickly for her to identify them all, and then he lifts hands up towards her. She pulls her hair over to the front of her shoulders to prevent too much pulling and reaches out obligingly.

"Don't _leave me,"_ is said almost too quietly for her to hear it, and she doesn't react to the words, landing her hands around his ribs and hauling him into the air. It's a little effort to turn him correctly but he settles on her shoulders again soon enough. He wraps his fingers around her hair as she begins to walk through the crowds again, pulling up the mental image of the boy's mother once more as she scans through the dwindling crowds.

"Are you still looking out for your mom?" She asks after ten minutes of the boy simply quietly touching and fiddling with her hair. She's definitely going to have tangles in it.

He doesn't answer her, and she decides to drop the subject for now, wandering down another main road and looking for the woman with shiny blonde hair and a "fluffy coat", which probably described a fur coat.

"Say, aren't you tired?" She asks eventually, the boy's silence really starting to dance along her nerves. That acute feeling of danger hadn't lessened in the least, and it's taking a lot of her concentration to not simply put the boy down and _leave_ as _fast as she can._

"Tired? But it's daytime," the boy says slowly, a hint of confused suspicion in his voice.

"Well, yeah, but I know that when _I_ get upset, I get tired," she reveals conspiratorially. "I get tired very easily, sometimes," she continues.

"... I guess I'm _kind_ of tired," he eventually agrees. "But I can't sleep or anything yet. We're going to a party, and I have to be awake for it."

"That makes sense," Yuuki admits with a small bob of her head. "That's very mature of you."

"I- _there's mommy!"_ The boy jerks on her shoulders, and she sees him fling an arm out towards a side street. The figure is gone before she can get a good look at it, and Yuuki shifts her shoulders so she can lift the boy off of them, tilting him so she's holding him to her side again.

"You're sure that was her?" She checks, and he nods, wriggling in her grip. Yuuki hums and tightens her arm around him before setting off at a jog, not confident in her ability to hold onto the boy in a full sprint.

They round the corner and she sees the woman this time just before the disappears, and her senses are trying to tell her something, but she can't tell with the boy so close to her face and her awareness of them dimmed down. She narrows her eyes and hesitates to continue following the woman, and the boy renews his struggling.

"_Mommy!"_

It's like she's been electrocuted, her entire body going still before breaking into movement completely out of her control as she continues to pursue the woman who continues to be somehow just beyond her reach. Anytime she thinks the woman might have stopped for the boy in her arms, or that something about this situation is _strange_, the boy will cry out again and the woman will disappear around another corner and her head will go foggy with a need to pursue.

Standing in front of an old building she'd just watched the woman enter, Yuuki finally releases the boy as he insists that this is where the party is. She has no idea how she got here, or where she is exactly, and a glance at the sky tells her that the sun is already starting to set, disappearing and taking the natural light with it.

The buildings around her loom up into the sky, cutting off most of the skyline and casting the street into shadow, and the boy hops partly up the stairs before turning towards her with mismatched eyes wide.

"She's definitely here! Thank you for helping me find mommy! I was very scared when I was alone," he says chirpily before waving his hands at her, trying to get her to come closer. She almost doesn't, but then she's moving again, bending slightly to look him better in the face.

"Do you kno-"

The boy leans close and plants his lips against her cheek, near her lips, and her vision goes grey.

"You're so kind…" She hears him say before her legs give out beneath her, and she feels the side of her head impact with the stairs before she loses consciousness completely.

* * *

_"What a troublesome child…"_ Echoed in Yuuki's ears as she dragged her eyes open. Her entire body felt weighted down and lethargic, as though she has no energy, and the ceiling above her spins ever so slightly, the elaborate detailing blurry at the edges. She's reclining down on something that feels vaguely comfortable in the way nice furniture does, but it doesn't feel like something meant for laying flat down on it, her legs hanging down the sides, the tips of her toes against solid floor.

Trying to make sense of her slightly hazy memory, Yuuki blinks sluggishly at the ceiling before flicking her eyes to the side, spotting Kaname sitting in a chair next to her, one leg crossed over the other and arms crossed, dressed formally.

"I'm glad you've recovered quickly," he tells her, his face serious, vaguely displeased. Maybe tired.

Part of her wants to jerk up into a sitting position, but everything is still spinning somewhat, and she doesn't want to risk sending herself toppling to the ground. There's a nudge at her subconscious, a twitch in her instincts. "I_ won't acknowledge you at all_!"

She looks away from Kaname before slowly trying to lean up into a sitting position, carefully getting a grip on the back of the chaise she's sitting on. He reaches out a hand towards her, ready to assist her if she sways or starts to fall, but she doesn't and ignores it, looking around the room. Her hair falls into her face, still loose, and she huffs to get it out of her eyes.

The room is empty of much furniture, but the decor is nonetheless rich and gaudy, the walls white with golden accents, the floor polished to a shine. The furniture is very high quality as well.

"Are you still not acknowledging me?" Kaname asks quietly, and she doesn't so much as twitch. If she speaks to him now, looks at him, it will be giving up on her word. "I _do_ feel bad about doubting Kiryuu so often, and we _did_ find the vampire truly responsible in the end..." He starts to tell her, and Yuuki flicks her eyes in his direction, trying to think about if that's enough of an acknowledgement of his wrong-doing for her to forgive him.

It doesn't seem like he's admitting he did anything wrong, but he isn't quite done speaking, either, so she's going to wait for him to fall silent before making any decision. She will give him the benefit of the doubt.

"But, Yuuki… Being told that you're not going to acknowledge me… don't you think that's a little _upsetting_ for me?" He reaches a hand out, fingers outstretched, before curling them back towards his palm, eyes flashing slightly with an emotion she can't catch. She looks at him more completely, actually turning to face him, and her arms and legs tingle just slightly as feeling begins to return to them.

She's curious about why he stopped before touching her. Did he remember her flinching last time, or was there some other reason?

"You're mad at me for how I acted, right? Well… who do you think is the one that made me act that way?" Yuuki's stomach drops and she can't help but feel as though this is familiar. Kaname is blaming _her_ for how he's been acting? _How does that make any _sense_?_

He leans back away into his chair, face going neutral once more, and he looks towards the doors of the room.

"Come in," he calls out, and Ichijou steps into the room, also dressed formally but in colors completely opposite to Kaname's. "So it's you who they've sent to get me?"

"Kaname… you don't have to say it like that," Ichijou smiles a little, tone mild if a little strained. "The head of the Aidou family is waiting to meet you tonight, you know. Besides, Yuuki-chan is awake now, so do you really have to stay? She'll be fine if she stays in this room, nobody would dare barge in here." Yuuki keeps her mouth shut, though Ichijou is speaking about her as though she's not in the room.

"Speaking of which…" He turns his eyes on her for the first time since he entered the room, "why did you collapse _there_, Yuuki-chan? We brought you inside so the guests won't see you, but you were _right_ in front of the entrance. We already contacted Cross to let him know we found you, but could you tell us what happened?"

Yuuki tries to organize her memory in order to explain, but the specifics are beyond her.

"I remember… a little boy. He was lost, and asked me for help finding his mom," she says slowly, "my memory is hazy, though, at the end. I think… he kissed my cheek."

"That must have been one of the guests' children at tonight's party… Vampire children steal energy from people through acts of affection. Yuuki-chan, we're in the basement of the building you were in front of- it's owned by the Aidou family. Tonight, there's a party for the vampires that live near here," he explains seriously, "so there's a lot of vampires here. If they find out you, a lone human, is here, you'll be in great danger."

"So," Kaname speaks up in Ichijou's trailing silence, pushing himself to a stand, "please stay in this room, Yuuki." They leave, then, and Yuuki tilts her head back to look at the ceiling again, eyes skimming the walls in boredom. The room is remarkably similar to the rooms she can remember spending her childhood in, and she idly wonders if the style is really so common among vampires.

The door creaks, and she turns as the boy from before starts to slide into the room, face twisted into an expression of soft regret.

"Human-nee-san, I'm very sorry about earlier."

"Ah, did you find your mom?" She asks, carefully pushing to a stand. He shifts a little in his spot before red blotches along his cheekbones and he turns on his heel to walk away. "Wait, you can't tell anyone I'm here-"

When she approaches the door, she hears the low rumble of chatter, and she pokes her head out, looking up and down the hallway. The little boy is nowhere in sight, despite that he hadn't been going very quickly and the hallway doesn't really have anywhere to hide. There's an exposed area, likely an overlook to the party, the lighting low, and Yuuki feels curiosity welling up.

Her scent isn't exactly going to be subtle, but it doesn't feel like there's much of a breeze, so if she's careful, maybe she could get a glimpse of the vampires? Then she could go back to the safety of the room. It's a risk, though, and she doesn't want to risk her life just for… _Who is she kidding?_

She slides low to the ground and makes her way carefully over to the railing, kneeling on the ground and then poking her head up over the wall to look at the party down below. She spots Zero and Yagari among the crowd quickly enough, and she looks Zero over instantly by reflex. He looks alright, if not a little tense, and there's a small bit of relief for it.

This must be the assignment he'd tried to tell her about earlier in the day.

There's a sudden pause in all the talking as a door near the side of the room opens, and Yuuki slides down somewhat as Kaname walks into view, all the vampires in the room below barring Zero bend down into bows or curtseys.

Yagari and Zero don't so much as bend their heads, and it's almost a startling contrast as Kaname also remains entirely upright, not that Yuuki'd expected otherwise.

"I did not mean to disturb you all," Kaname speaks, "my apologies."

"Kaname-sama," a voice speaks up in the ringing silence, "is it true that you took a human's side at the Council meeting? The human's-"

"It is true," Kaname confirms with a nod, making the room burst into subdued chatter. Yuuki takes the chance to slide back to the room, carefully closing the door behind her and going back to sit on the chaise, leaning back and closing her eyes.

She doesn't know how long it is before she hears the door click open, but it does, and she opens her eyes instantly, watching as Kaname enters the room and then closes the door behind him.

"I told you not to leave this room," Kaname speaks in a blank tone of voice, not looking at her as she carefully stands up from the chaise, shifting on her feet as the hair on the back of her neck prickles up with unease.

"You did," she admits. He turns, then, eyes meeting hers for an instant before he appears in front of her, arms wrapping around her waist and jaw pressing against her temple.

"You're not going to apologize?" He asks almost silently before his arms tighten and he lifts her off the ground, walking a few steps before dropping her onto her back on the chaise once more, leaning over the top and staring down into her face. "Why did you leave the room?"

"I was worried about the little boy, and I was curious." With Kaname staring her straight into her eyes, she can't quite lie to him, so she doesn't try, ignoring her unease.

"I see… that person… they're not subtle at all," Kaname mutters with a sigh, expression dropping into something tired and resigned, before he seems to go boneless, knees dropping onto the ground and torso dropping onto her stomach and thighs. His head rests on her chest, breath coming out as a sigh.

"Kaname?"

"Before I can forgive you, please let me stay here," he says quietly, "just for awhile." One arm rests by her shoulder, a hand resting in her hair, and his other hand lifts to curl into a loose fist on her stomach. He remains in place for a time before, in a voice so quiet she wouldn't have heard him with human senses, she hears him say, "I'm so tired."

"... You're okay, Kaname-nii," she reassures after a startled pause, a softness that lingered in her psyche pressing forward as the hand on her stomach uncurls to wrap around her shoulder. Her arms lift, one resting on the back of his shoulders and the other moving her hand into his hair, running her fingertips gently through his hair. She feels his entire body relax as he shifts slightly, head settling more firmly against her chest and neck, his breath coming out in longer movements.

She almost freezes when she realizes that he just fell asleep, but she continues to pet him anyway, doing her best to keep her heartbeat as slow as she can make it and her breathing even. Kaname might not be so trustworthy, now, but… he was her brother once, right?

Surely she has enough gentleness in her for this, right? To shelter him when he's so obviously exhausted?

Her hand is starting to cramp when his breathing changes once more, eyelashes brushing against her collarbones.

"Humans… don't live for very long," he says into her chest, just below her right shoulder, "it seems like seconds." His voice is low, and he doesn't move off of her even slightly. "If I asked, right now, would you become a vampire? Live for eternity… by my side?" She doesn't say anything, taking note on how Kaname hasn't changed his position, has made no move to actually pressure her for an answer one way or the other, and feels a little reassured by that despite that he's a little late.

If she hadn't been bitten by Hiou, though... she has to think like she hasn't been bitten by Hiou.

"I don't know," she decides to admit candidly. "Right now, I don't know."

"I see," he murmurs, breathing out a long breath and pressing his face into her body once more without saying anything else for awhile. "It should be just about time to leave," he eventually says, tone reluctant, and she obligingly moves her arms. He almost doesn't seem willing to get up before he leans away, his knees still on the ground and untangling his arms from around her body.

"Alright," she nods, watching him stand up and brush himself off before accepting the hand he extends towards her, allowing him to help her up. He doesn't step away when she ends up chest to torso with him, so she has to step around and away from him to get a little distance, and when she sees him in her periphery, his neutral expression seems just a little sad and lonely.

"I will walk with you, of course," he speaks up, and she nods, offering a near silent,

"Of course."

* * *

Climbing out of the car, Yuuki barely has time to register that Yori is waiting for her at the gate before her friend is running towards her, expression relieved and happy to see her.

"Yuuki!"

"Yori, I'm-" Yori collides with her body, arms wrapping around her shoulders, and Yuuki jolts as her face comes into contact with Yori's freezing cold cheek. Her hands wiggle up from her back soon enough, wiggling into the collar of her coat, and ice-cold fingers press against her warm neck.

Yuuki yelps and jumps away, looking over at Yori's bland face.

"Why are you so cold?"

"Well, I was waiting outside for _someone_ who got _lost_," Yori says flatly, extending her fingers demandingly towards Yuuki. She smiles a little in embarrassment, obligingly reaching out to wrap her hands around Yori's.

"I'm sorry about that," Yuuki apologizes before they're both distracted by snow beginning to fall.

"Eh? It's already that time of year?" Yuuki hears Cross wonder from somewhere to the side, and she glances up, lids fluttering a little so she is less likely to get snow in her eyes.


	29. Kain Akatsuki Omake

**POV: KAIN AKATSUKI THE DEVA VU GIRL AND THE TROUBLESOME COUSIN**

* * *

**So. I _hated_ writing this, and it isn't very long, but this is what I managed. Also, there's some swearing. It isn't _serious_ but it's definitely there. I decided that since I finished it, I might as well post it.**

**Here you go. Kain is seriously done with all of this.**

* * *

The first and second time that Kain Akatsuki sees Cross Yuuki, it's the same night, and he doesn't quite manage to understand what about her niggles at the back of his mind. The thoughts are there, but he doesn't quite acknowledge them until later.

The first time, he is walking through the temporary dorm with some of the noble vampires he'd been associating with ever since he'd first been presented to society. Souen Ruka and Aidou Hanabusa, his cousin, are among them, as well as Kuran's pet Level C who hadn't bothered to actually speak to any of them.

It'd been a small laugh at Hanabusa's expense that'd caught their attention. His cousin had been complaining and being bratty, as was usual, and he'd been half-heartedly trying to console him when the small snicker had sounded.

He'd been the first to stop followed by Hanabusa and Ruka, then Shiki had stopped as well, though he hadn't known the male at the time.

Cross had been tiny back then, her face all big eyes and her hair long and messy, sitting all curled on the stairs looking like a startled, small animal. The sense of familiarity had been present even then, the sense that he should recognize her, that he knew her but her appearance was shifted just slightly to the left of what he knows. But then they'd been moving again, leaving her behind, and he'd put her out of his mind.

Later, he'd followed Ruka to Kuran's rooms, found her giving herself to Kuran to feed from (and didn't that _ache_?) and spotted her leaving Kuran's rooms. He'd been startled and confused at the time, but in the moment he had almost thought she was Kuran, only shrunken.

Which had been sort of a trip.

Then Ruka had come stumbling out of Kuran's rooms with blood all down her front and irritation all across her features at the sight of him soon after, though, so he had to shelve those thoughts in favor of trying to convince her to just _let him help her, dammit._

* * *

The next times he'd seen her, it'd usually been in passing, when they'd been escorted by her and that Zero guy- Kiryuu Zero, from vampire hunter family that'd been wiped out by Hiou Shizuka some time back. It wasn't usually for very long, but it had been enough to see that Kuran really did have something to do with her, connected to her in a way that nobody was really willing to question, or even really see.

Which was unsettling. Did nobody see it? Even Hanabusa, who had been obsessed with Kuran since they were kids, somehow didn't see it.

Or maybe they did see it and were just good at hiding it. Hanabusa definitely didn't- he'd have told him by now if he did, even if only accidentally.

Kuran favoured her very clearly, and treated her specially. And she looked almost exactly like him, except Cross has long hair. He'd written home carefully, called some people, and tried to get his hands on some older books that might have explained anything, but he was denied, and it wasn't as though the Kain family was as old as Kuran's, or as affluent as any other pureblood family. They hadn't had a pureblood in their family for a _long_ time.

Anything he might have found probably wouldn't have answered any of his questions, anyway. So he settled down to avoid thinking about it too much, as there wasn't really anything he could do about it without getting _erased from existence_ by Kuran for sticking his nose in it.

Then Hanabusa just _had to put his entire _foot _in it._

Honestly.

Akatsuki went along with his cousin's whims too much, especially when he _knew_ that his cousin was being bitter about what little he saw of Kuran's relationship with Cross, whatever it was. He probably wouldn't stop doing so, because Hanabusa wouldn't stop doing the things he did, and he needed _some kind_ of back-up, but he should probably make more of an effort to convince him to stop doing such Stupid _shit_.

So, here he is, outside with Hanabusa and catching Cross' anti-vampire weapon in his palm instead of letting it clip his Stupid cousin across the face like he almost wants to. But Hanabusa would never let him hear the end of it. After all, Akatsuki had been training to fight for a long time, and his cousin always expected him to use what abilities he could to help him. _Not that he ever really minded that before_ now.

There are two humans huddled behind the tiny girl, both of them staring with wide, awestruck eyes, but Akatsuki ignores them, wrenching his hand back as the weapon sears into the flesh of his palm, not quite damaging his skin but not any less painful for that. His nerves feel scorched in a very unpleasant and lingering way even as he subtly flexes his fingers. He can tell his hand is already trying to heal from the few seconds of contact and managing it badly. He tucks it into his pocket and watches the situation carefully as Hanabusa continues to speak, continues to _dig himself a grave,_ and realizes almost too late exactly what Hanabusa is going to do.

Hauling his _Stupid_ cousin back by the collar of his uniform, Akatsuki almsot literally snarls at Hanabusa. _Is he even thinking?_

There's a spray of blood following Hanabusa's fingers, the scent clogging all of his senses, and Akatsuki is so glad he's got better control than so many of the other Night Class students as well as his cousin, because getting close to Cross would _definitely_ see him killed tonight. So would flashing his eyes at her, so he does his best to tone that down.

Kiryuu emerges from the bushes with a _gun drawn_ seconds later, confirming that theory.

He's so busy watching the weapon and Kiryuu's figure that he actually almost doesn't hear Hanabusa spewing _even more Stupid shit._ Kiryuu moves actually almost too fast for him to react in time, dropping his cousin and ducking to the side out of reflex as the guardian fires his weapon and Cross hits it to deflect it _right at his face._

He's 70% sure it's accidental, but that wouldn't have mattered after he'd _died_.

Kuran showing up is actually kind of a relief, after that, despite that the animal part of his brain insists that he's going to die.


End file.
